Nightmares in Wonderland
by Icy Metal and Frost Blue Roses
Summary: Everyone knows Alice as the innocent seven-year-old girl that chased the White Rabbit into Wonderland. Ten years later, Alice has forgotten Wonderland and is haunted by bizarre dreams. What will happen when Alice rediscovers the world from her dreams is real and that the Hatter's on a mission to bring her back, I wonder? A dark, modern-day Alice in Wonderland. Eventual Alice/Hatter
1. Prologue

Prologue

"How goes the search for her?"

"..."

"Well?"

"We have another one for you," the second boy said, pushing a young girl forward. "How is this? Did I do a good job?" he asked expectantly, glancing down at the blonde child. Watching the shadowed figure get out of his seat and make his way to where his companion and involuntary travel buddy stood, he got down on his knees to be eye level with the small girl and asked, "What's your name?" "Josie," the girl stuttered fearfully, backing away from the pink haired youth.

Looking up to his companion, a dark look crossed his features as he screeched, "What part of 'find Alice' did you not understand, Jack?! She has to be a teenager by now! She ain't gonna stay a little girl forever! Now, take her back and don't return until you found Alice!"

"Well, excuse me! If I knew the girl's last name, my search would be going a lot better!" Jack shot back, getting his friend to rise to his full height and glare at him. "It seems you are in need of a babysitter, then, Jack. The Queen needs Alice and it's been a week since this mission has been dropped in our laps and yet you haven't found the right girl yet," he said slowly, moving past his friend and their captive and down the path disappearing in the woods moments later.


	2. Chapter 1: Nightmares and Mad Hatters

Chapter One: Nightmares and Mad Hatters

Walking down the dirt path with no idea where it led, I looked around at my dark surroundings in high anxiety at hearing unseen animals shrieking and chittering away in the bushes. Stopping short of a fork in the road, I glanced down both directions before shrugging and beginning my walk again down the path to the right. Looking up above me, the sky was turning black and stars were starting to appear, making me nervous about being caught alone in the woods at night.

After a few more minutes of walking, the sound of singing reached my ears and hope started to swell in my chest and I began running towards the source of the singing, eventually stumbling upon a rickety old house and a long table set out before it. Moving towards the table cautiously, I noticed there was only three people occupying the table despite the many mismatched chairs pulled out at odd angles, awaiting guests that will never arrive.

"H-hello?" I called a bit timidly, causing the loud singing of one of the occupants to stop abruptly and the second to stare at me as if I fell from the sky. "What do you want?" the first occupant, a teenage boy with brown bunny ears (oddly enough), asked sharply, eyeing me with thinly veiled irritation and hostility. "I was hoping if you could help me? I'm kind of lost and need help getting home…" I said shyly, looking down and twirling a lock of hair around my fingers.

"Well, take a hike, girlie! We got better things to do than help a lost girl find her way!" the rabbit-boy snapped.

"No. Jack, where are your manners? After all, she _is_ a little girl," another voice spoke, its' owner hidden from view at the head of the table. I scowled at the speaker but I'm thankful he's defending me. "Could you just give me directions back home?" I asked, jumping when the hidden speaker commanded, "Come over here." I paused a moment before the voice became darker and more forceful. "NOW!" he barked, making me jump again and mumble a quick "yes, sir" and move to the head of the table. The figure was hunched over in his seat with an elbow propped on the edge of the table supporting his head in his gloved hand. The light supplied by candles sitting about on the porch helped me see him somewhat, but only just enough for me to see he's wearing a black outfit and his face is the color of alabaster and a matching top hat sat on his head at a jaunty angle, heavy black makeup ran down into points on his cheeks and lips the same color, further enhancing the terrifying and mystifying qualities about him. His hair is florescent pink, framing sharp facial features and his eyes are the most disturbing color one's eyes could be: yellow. Catching myself staring at him, I turned my gaze elsewhere, only making him laugh and watched him from out of the corner of my eye as he leaned over and whispered in my ear: "Do I scare you, dear?" He paused a moment, as if waiting for me to respond and chuckled darkly, "Thought so."

"I want to go home!" I cried, shutting my eyes to try and keep myself from crying but didn't succeed in keeping all my tears at bay. Feeling a gloved hand brush gently at my tears, I opened my eyes and watched him slip his hands under my arms and sit me down on his lap, supporting me with one hand on my back and the other cradling my head to his chest.

Suddenly, everything changes and I'm running down a dark alleyway, frightened by the sounds of gunfire, screaming, and bodies hitting the ground. Turning a corner, I froze dead in my tracks, seeing the pink haired teen standing over an injured man with a gun in his hand and blood splattered all over him, a look of insanity in its purest and deadliest form clear on his face. As he put the muzzle of the gun to the man's head, I screamed at him to stop, but he either didn't hear or was ignoring me and pulled the trigger, the sound reverberating off the walls.

Watching him push himself off the ground, he turned his gaze to me, anger in his eyes as he calmly stepped over the body and walked over to me. "I thought I told you to stay hidden," he said darkly, glaring daggers at me. I took more steps back the closer he got. "I couldn't! They found me and-" I was cut off by a hand slapping me across the face.

"Shut up!" he barked, "When I tell you to do something, I want you to obey!"

I stared at him in shock, unsure of how to react, merely rubbing my throbbing cheek before a look of horror washed over the teen's ash white features in realization of his action.

"Alice, I didn't-" He reached for me, but I backed out of his reach and I became more frantic as he continued to try coming near me, eventually leading me to run in the opposite direction, knowing I can't possibly get far because of his longer legs. I let out a scream when I felt his strong arms wind their way around my waist and lift me off the ground.

"Alice, stop fighting me!" the youth grunted, trying to keep his hold on me squirming around in his arms before another set of hands came down on him, getting him to drop me. Running away a short distance, I watched as a group of men clad in red armor wrestled him to the ground and effectively pinned him there. Looking up as a young man I didn't recognize came to stand beside me, he crouched down to my level and frowned at the bruise forming on my cheek. Watching him with tear filled eyes, I allowed him to pick me up as he regarded the other boy.

"I hope you had fun with her, because I will see to it the Queen _never_ lets you near her again," the white haired rabbit-boy said coldly, turning to walk away as the other youth shouted, "Alice! I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"

Jolting, I let out an involuntary scream before realizing I'm in my room and cried. Wiping cold sweat from my face, I crawled out of bed as my parents burst into the room and came to where I stood beside the bed.

"What happened, Alice? Did you have the nightmare again?" my mom asked in concern and I nodded. "Honey, this is the fourteenth time this month you've had this dream. I don't understand why you can't sleep peacefully anymore," Dad said, bringing me into a protective hug as I cried into his shoulder.

"It's always the same," I whispered mournfully, knowing full well the pink haired young man would make yet another appearance again once I close my eyes. He always does. I've had the same dream ever since I could remember, always starting and ending the same way and I always wake up screaming.

"We have to do something about this dream of yours, Cricket," Dad sighed, patting the back of my head comfortingly. "I know, but even if I have a remotely good dream, _he's_ always there and I get dragged back into the nightmare," I sobbed, looking up at the man, searching his face in the dark as if he has the answer as to why I'm haunted by the same dream ever since I was seven.

"Do you want to talk about it? Talking always makes you feel better, Alice," Mom asked, putting her hand on my back. I sniffled a bit before sitting down to tell them. By the time I was done telling them about my dream, my parents both seemed a bit concerned about the events of said dream that I wake up screaming every night.

"Sweetheart, I think you need to lay off the violent movies for a while and try to find something else to focus your energy on," Dad said haltingly, though he knew I wouldn't agree with him. "Dad, thing is it doesn't matter if I watch anything violent earlier that day, I always have the same dream! I can't explain it and it scares me!" I protested.

"I think you and I should go out tomorrow and give you something happier to think about, Alice," Mom said, making me cringe inwardly, the last thing I want to do in the morning being dragged around town by my mother. She and I both know I'd rather lay around in the back yard with a book and my kitten, Dinah, daydreaming about whatever book I'm (trying to, really) reading and get distracted by thoughts of the mysterious pink haired youth from my dreams and how genuinely hurt he seemed to be when the white haired rabbit-boy took me away.

(Hatter's POV)

Walking down the street, pausing only to glance at the paper in my hands, I smiled satisfactorily at the matching address of the house with the one on the paper and froze at catching a glimpse of the blonde girl I've longed to see for the past ten years. Slipping across the street to get a better look, I peered into the window to find her sitting at the table with a tiny cat nestled in her lap. I could plainly see she had recently woken up and there was something in her eyes that I could place only as fear and restlessness. _What could my little Cricket be so afraid of, I wonder?_ I thought, frowning as a scowl etched its' way across her delicate features and moaned in dismay of the girl getting up and disappearing from my line of sight.

(Alice's POV)

A few hours passed when I woke up again, still trying to stop the tears from the previous night. Walking into the kitchen, I smiled at the sight of the small cat sleeping in the fruit bowl on the table and sat down, picking the kitten up and setting her down in my lap. "Morning, Dinah," I said happily, stroking the cat behind her ears and getting rewarded with a content purr from her.

"Alice, I don't care if you don't want to, but you and I are going to have a girls' day out," Mom said from behind. Knowing it won't get me anywhere if I argued, I merely sighed and mumbled, "Fine." Getting up and setting the tiny cat on the floor, I set about my morning routine of feeding Dinah, eating breakfast, and getting dressed.

Pulling on a blue T-shirt from out of my closet, I turned to Dinah playing with a piece of ribbon I sometimes tie around my wrist and sighed. "Wish me luck getting dragged around by my mother," I said, addressing the kitten, getting a mewl as response. Walking out the door with Mom, I stopped at the car door at seeing a young man with jet black hair and green eyes watching me intently with an evil smile on his face.

"Get in, Alice," Mom said to me, getting me to glance at her then at the place where the young man was standing moments before to find him gone. I made a face at this but shrugged it off and got in the car, ready to endure a day out that I really don't want.

After a while of driving, Mom finally pulled into the parking lot of my favorite restaurant. Sitting me down, I jumped at seeing that our waiter was the youth that had been staring at me before we left the house. _How did he get here before us?_ I thought, shuddering when he smiled at me.

"What can I get you ladies today?" he asked kindly, watching me as he asked.

"Another waiter," I mumbled, getting him to frown.

"Alice!" Mom said, looking angry at me saying that.

"Excuse me? Did I do something wrong?" he asked before giving me a devious smile and whispering, "Do I freak you out?" I leaned as far away from him as I could get without falling out of my seat. "Yes, you freak me out! You were staring at me before I left my house and you somehow got here before us!" I said, scowling as he ignored my comment and drew closer until a youth from a nearby table grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him away.

(Hatter's POV)

"Are you crazy? The Queen told you to keep a low profile!" Jack whispered harshly in my ear. "I know, but look at her! How can I NOT resist spying to see how much my little Cricket has grown since I was told by White I can't see her anymore?" I said, shrugging, looking over at her as she talked to her mother.

"She's grown so much," I murmured, a sigh of longing escaping me. "I know, but you have to wait till the time is right to get her. According to the bug I planted in her room, she is still having nightmares of you going mad and killing the Queen of Hearts' men! You scarred her for life and if she were to see you now, she would probably think she's having that nightmare again and run," Jack said, shaking his head at me.

"I know. But I have to show her I'm not a threat and I'm only trying to help her," I sighed before turning back to the table she was sitting at to go about my job. "Heh, sorry about that. Is there anything I can get you lovely ladies?" I said, frowning at the look of hostility on Alice's face and what looked like fear and paranoia in her blue eyes.

"… No, we need a little time to go over the menu," the older woman said, offering me a smile and smacking her daughter's hand when she thought I wasn't looking, getting me to snort humorously at the exchange.

An hour or so later, they finally left, me and Jack following close behind. "Where on Earth are they going?" Jack muttered, getting frustrated with the slow pace we're moving at. I shrugged. "Hell if I know. That's why we're following them. You can run ahead if you like, but be careful not to look conspicuous when you start spying on them," I said, getting not another word out of my companion as he ran ahead.

(Alice's POV)

"Mom? Have you ever had the feeling that we're being watched?" I asked, looking behind me to find the same boy from the restaurant following behind us. Panic swelling in my chest, I tried to keep an even pace before the young man was practically right beside me and ran, prompting him to pick up his pace as well, eventually breaking into a sprint. After running for about an hour or so, I finally ditched him, watching as he looked around for me from behind a corner before he left in frustration. "What was that about?" I murmured, shaking my head in wonderment at the feeling that I've met him before. _He looks so familiar like that guy from my dream…_ I thought, hoping it was just a coincidence that he looked similar to the mysterious youth from my dreams.

Meeting up with my mom again, we finally headed home, the both of us a little paranoid that we'll run into that guy again.

(Hatter's POV)

Hiding myself behind a corner, I pulled out the mirror hiding up my sleeve and watched as an image of a woman in white appeared in the glass. "Your Majesty," I greeted, "Is it time to bring her back yet?" The White Queen laughed. "Keep an eye out for White. When he comes, you'll know it's time to show yourself to her as when she first met you and bring her here," she replied before her image faded to reflect my own.

"What did she say?" Jack asked, coming to stand beside me.

"Keep an eye out for the White Rabbit. The moment he shows up is the moment we blow our cover and take her to Wonderland," I said seriously, scowling at having to see White again after he made sure I couldn't see Alice again after so many years.

"Okay, but how do we know if he's going to show up as a dude with bunny ears or an actual rabbit?"

A devious smile crossed my features. "That's easy. Hurt any man with white hair and rabbit with pure white fur until you find one that talks."

(Alice's POV)

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I pulled out my sketchpad and flipped through the pages filled with the pink haired youth and frowned, wondering just how many more times I will see him in my dreams before I am rid of him. One part of me seemed eager to get rid of him while another part of me seemed reluctant to let him go, sensing something familiar about him that felt right for one reason or another.

_What is it about him that's so familiar?_ I thought, watching a recent picture I sketched of him painting a white rose red. A smirk played across black lips and his hat and jacket discarded on the ground, favoring no hat and to roll up his sleeves to his elbows. He stood facing the bush with a paint brush in hand and a bucket of paint at his feet, looking at me from out of the corner of his eye. I glared at the sketch and closed the sketch book and put it back in its rightful place on my desk.

_I swear the waiter looked like him, only normal,_ I thought, sitting down at the desk and opening the book again. Flipping to a fresh page, I began my work sketching the murderous pink haired youth and the waiter I encountered earlier today, trying to find similarities between the two. After an hour or so of working, I watched the page as if it fell through the ceiling at the end product. It was the same person. The pink haired youth was the waiter. I fell out of my seat, gasping in shock of the picture and quickly snapped the book shut and left the room to try and find something to get my mind off the chilling discovery that the young man from my nightmare is a real person and not a figment of my imagination like I thought he was.


	3. Chapter 2: Stalked by a White Rabbit

Chapter Two: Stalked by a White Rabbit

Over the course of the next two days, I mulled over what had happened when Mom dragged me out of the house. I snapped out of my thoughts at something soft brushing against my leg and looked down, smiling at a white rabbit curled around my leg.

"Hey there, little guy," I said softly, picking the rabbit up and sitting it on my lap. I stroked its fur for a while before a thought hit me. _I wonder how many more times I will see the same rabbit? _I thought, taking my ribbon off from around my wrist and tied it around the bunny's neck in a neat little bow before setting it down and going back inside.

As the days passed, I put a mark on a piece of paper for every time I saw the same rabbit until the page was covered with marks. I saw the rabbit everywhere, in the park, in the mall, at a restaurant, everywhere! Seeing the little white bunny sitting underneath a table nearby, I put another mark on the piece of paper in my notebook and pointed it out to Mom. "There it is again!" I said, watching as Mom frowned slightly at the sight of the little creature. "See that bow? I put that there six days ago!" I said, getting up to go after the rabbit only to break into a sprint as it disappeared from sight.

(Hatter's POV)

Catching sight of Alice running through the crowd, I smirked in mild amusement before kicking my friend under the table. "Yo, Jack, it looks like White decided to make an appearance," I said, getting out of my seat to run after her with Jack in tow. Trying to keep the blonde in my line of sight wasn't exactly easy as she dipped in and out of the masses of people, undoubtedly chasing White. Finally seeing White in his rabbit form disappear behind a corner, I ran into the nearest alleyway that would circle around behind him and watched from behind the corner as Alice ran in after him.

Watching him shape shift in front of her, he lunged for her and covered her mouth. Sneaking closer and having ditched my own disguise for when I'm walking around in Aboveland, I listened as White whispered, "Hello, Alice. It's been a long time." Reaching for my gun, I cocked it and took aim, getting Alice to peer around the albino and almost pass out at seeing me and White to sneer at me. "Hatter, what are you doing here? I thought the Queen told you to never come around Alice," he said, pulling Alice closer and drawing his own gun. "That was the current Queen's _mother_ that said it, not Rose," I countered, coming closer and pulling Alice out of his grip and pushed her behind me before unloading a couple rounds into the air, causing a chain reaction from the crowd as people started running in all directions to avoid being shot. Turning back to the terrified blonde on the ground, I grabbed her arm and dragged her into the crowd behind me with one hand while holding my gun over my head in the other unleashing a few more bullets to scare the masses to lose White among the frantic people.

Alice struggled in my grip as I shoved my way through the crowd but stopped as cops blocked the exit. I cursed and pulled the blonde girl to my body, placing the muzzle of my weapon to her temple threateningly. "Drop your weapons! I swear I'll kill her!" I shouted, pulling Alice tighter and slowly advanced for the door again, ignoring the cops' warnings to let the girl go. Peering down at her, I lowered my head to her and whispered, "Do exactly as I say and all this will be over soon." She responded by a harsh whisper of "Eat me." I scowled, but pressed forward as the officers backed away, trying to keep Alice alive even though I have no intention of killing her. Finally outside the huge structure, I thanked God that Jack had found a way out and pulled up with a van. I didn't hesitate to shove Alice in the back and jumping in myself before Jack peeled rubber and tore off down the street.

"Jack, could you have been any more conspicuous back there?!" I shouted, slapping my friend upside the head. "Did you want me to be?" he replied, reaching under the seat and pulled out a large banner that read, "WE KIDNAPPED ALICE! FOLLOW THE WHITE VAN, DUMMIES!" "Oh, my God, I could kill you and finish the job myself!" I screeched, letting out a startled cry as Alice's hands wrapped themselves around my neck and pulled me backward.

"What do you want with me?!" she screamed, keeping a firm hold on my neck. "Would you knock it off?! We're trying to kidnap you here! I'm trying to drive the getaway car and you're distracting me from the road!" Jack shouted, glancing over his shoulder at us before abruptly pulling off the side of the road and driving into the woods. Finally managing to get out from underneath her, I grabbed a cloth soaked in chloroform and pressed it to her face, Alice's tense form going limp a few seconds later.

Finally rolling to a stop, Jack and I climbed out, only stopping long enough to bind Alice's hands, legs, and mouth before pulling her out of the back of the vehicle. Taking her to the large hole at the base of the tree, we jumped before the cops could catch us. The feeling of weightlessness immediately took over and got a crazed laugh out of me as we fell down the Rabbit Hole. Upon reaching the ground, I handed Alice's unconscious form over to Jack and went to rummage through the deep pockets of my jacket before finally producing a key and unlocked one of the many doors lining the wall of the room and opened it to let my companion through and into the darkened interior of my home.

Laying her down in a guest room, I gingerly brushed her hair out of her face and traced a finger down her jaw line before getting up to leave. _I can't believe Alice is back and in my home! Of all places in Wonderland, she's in my house!_ I thought excitedly, glancing into the room before Jack dragged me out of the house.

"Remember, Hatter, if you want her trust, present yourself to her like the first time she met you: commanding but caring, and no hitting, no pinching, no kicking, no biting, no pulling hair, no staring at her ass when you think she ain't looking. Got it?" he said, amusing me by getting all that out of his mouth in one breath. "Whatever. It ain't like I'm some kind of obsessed pervert or anything, right?" I replied, brushing off the 'rules' my friend laid out for me to follow while in Alice's presence.


	4. Chapter 3: Tea Party Horrors

**Author's Note: Yay, another chapter! Sorry it took so long for me to get this done, I just couldn't find a good stopping point. Those of you that have already looked at this and commented on it, keep coming back to see what I have in store for Alice and what the Queen of Heart's mission for the Mad Hatter and the March Hare was in this chapter! I have many more chapters planned for this story before I'm through, so check back often though I can't guarantee every time you do there will be a new chapter up. I have cookies and tea for those who can name all the characters described later in the chapter. :) This is where a few reasons why the story is rated T surfaces. I'll just say this up front that this is rated T for language, torture, sex innuendos, and whatever else I can throw into the mix to make things more interesting, but I assure you it's not all throughout the chapter, just in one spot and it isn't drawn out too long.**

**Disclaimer: You all know the drill, I don't own "**_**Alice in Wonderland**_**", I just own the plot to this story.**

**I've worked on this one chapter for over a week so do me a favor and like my story because likes and reviews make me really happy and put me in a writing mood to give you another chapter. :) Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Please?**

* * *

Chapter Three: Tea Party Horrors

Moaning softly, I opened my eyes to find myself in a dark room and sighed, hoping my nightmare had taken a new spin. Trying to move my hands, I found they had been tied together and everything came back to me with one terrifying discovery in the forefront of my mind: the pink haired young man from my nightmares is real. Wiggling my hands out of their binding, I moved to untie my legs and mouth before pushing myself up and moved to where the door on the wall opposite had been left slightly ajar for me to find my way out. Fearing the worst, I glanced around through the crack in the door to take in what's outside the room I found myself in to check for any signs of the boys from my nightmare only to find no one. Satisfied knowing they're nowhere to be found at the moment, I pushed the door wider and walked into the cozy surroundings of the living room and paused at smelling something in the process of being cooked in the kitchen and went to investigate.

Upon reaching the kitchen, I froze at seeing the murderous teenager at work cooking what smelled like meat and, fortunately, with his back turned to me, unaware that I'm awake. Not wanting to confront him just yet, I slowly backed out, wincing when a floorboard creaked beneath my foot, getting my heart to stop when the other teen froze and glanced over his shoulder at me and smirked.

"It's about time you woke up. I was beginning to worry the chloroform killed you," he said, turning around to face me with a large steak knife in hand. "I can't believe how much you've grown since I last saw you, Alice. As I recall, you were seven and, what, ten years have passed already? God, you're beautiful," he said softly, dropping the knife and moved closer to where I stood frozen in place as he began touching my face, studying me.

"You know me?" I stammered nervously, unable to remove my eyes from his.

A dark laugh escaped him. "Oh, yes, Alice, I know who you are and you know who I am. Now, tell me what my name is, Alice, and let me know you truly remember me," he ordered, watching me intently as I racked my brain to try and remember his name only to come up with nothing.

"I don't know," I whispered, closing my eyes and cringing at the look in his eyes at my answer.

"What do you mean you don't remember?!" he roared, getting me to scream and run for the bedroom, slam the door shut, and lock it behind me. I screamed again as his fists collided with the door, shouting, "You promised you wouldn't forget me, Alice!" This continued for at least an hour until it finally stopped and the sound of sobbing reached my ears and retreating footsteps.

Unlocking and opening the door just a crack, I watched as he sat down on the couch, covering his face with his hands. Opening the door wider, I warily crossed the room to him and sat down on the opposite end of the couch, getting his attention immediately. "What do you want?" he groused, wiping at his eyes and turned away from me.

"Why exactly are you crying? _I'm_ the one that suffered nightmares of you going on killing sprees for ten years!" I questioned, getting him to turn back to me and utter a wry laugh.

"Madness makes one do unspeakable things, Cricket. Besides, I was hoping you would remember me after all these years."

"I told you to leave the girl alone! Guidelines!" a voice shouted from outside and he rolled his eyes.

"Jack's waiting for us. He made your favorite tea and everything," he said, getting up and leading me outside to a familiar table set up in the front yard. Sitting me down in the seat to his right, I tried to pretend he isn't watching me and looked away, screaming when I caught sight of eyeballs floating around in jars that dotted the table. Getting out of my chair, I stumbled backward in shock when one of them blinked, following my every move with interest, much to the pink headed youth's dark amusement.

"What? Haven't you ever seen a gross out prank before? They're fake, Alice! Come sit down!" he said, still laughing at me.

"Haven't _you_ ever heard that leaving food over the stove untended can and _will_ burn your house down?" I shot back, laughing mockingly at him as he ran back into the house, having been reminded of his previous activity. After a few moments of watching the door, I took a seat after covering the jar that had startled me.

"Looks like it's just you and me now, huh?" the rabbit-boy said, getting me to look up at him.

"I guess..." I mumbled before asking, "You know him real well, right?" "Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure. Why?" he responded, his face partially hidden behind a teacup.

"What's his name? He cornered me the moment he found out I woke up and demanded I tell him what it is and blew a fuse when I said I didn't know," I said, watching him intently.

"His name is Brian, but most people around here call him the Mad Hatter or Hatter for short. Pick any name you like, it'll make him ecstatic to know you remember him," the rabbit-boy answered, ears perking as the door opened and closed.

Taking a seat next to me again, he sighed and said, "Let's try this again. I left you be for a while so you can rack that pretty little head of yours to remember my name, so let's hear it: what's my name, Alice?"

My heart pounded in my chest as he continued to stare and, not thinking, I blurted, "Hatter!"

Hatter watched me for a while with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth before saying, "You were playin' with me this whole time, weren't you? Had me worried you forgot us. Naughty girl."

I tried to give him a smile, but I think it turned out looking more like a grimace than what it was supposed to be and forced a laugh and mumbled, "Yeah... that's what I did. I'm playing with you. Got you good, didn't I?"

"Now, then, since I'm a hundred percent certain that we have the right Alice this time, we can get on with why we kidnapped you to begin with," the Hatter sighed, getting up and pulling me out of my seat.

"What would that be?" I asked, watching him with thinly veiled fear and hostility like he's going to hit me at any moment.

"I wouldn't know. The Queen didn't tell us; all we knew is that we had a mission to retrieve you," the Hatter replied, casually draping an arm around my shoulder and offered me what seemed to me was his best smile, but it only made him look even more insane than he really is, if that's even possible.

"I'm guessing you're gonna be taking me to her, right?" I questioned, shrugging him off and taking a few steps back to maintain some distance between us.

"Exactly, Cricket. And the sooner we start moving, the better," he said, nodding his head in confirmation. The moment he uttered my childhood nickname, I paled at him even knowing it, even somehow slipping it past me just minutes before, and asked, "What did you call me?"

"What, Cricket? I've always called you Cricket. When you were little, it irritated you to no end and you eventually started liking my pet name for you. So much so, you came to me once and told me you got your father to start calling you Cricket," he replied, sounding amused that I wouldn't know that information.

I narrowed my eyes at him and snapped, "Don't call me that! Only my friends can call me that and _you're not my friend!_ I've been haunted by nightmares of you killing innocent people my whole life and I can't tell you how eager I am to forget you so I can sleep peacefully at night again!" With that, I sat down in a seat and crossed my arms with a glare, not at all pleased with my present situation.

The three other occupants of the table froze as my words sank in before the Hatter broke the silence by slamming a fist on the tabletop and getting in my face, shouting, "_I'm_ the one that gave you that name; _I_ have a right to call you Cricket!"

"Yeah? I'm revoking that right! You're _not_ my friend, you're not _anything_ to me but a murderer and a kidnapper!" I hissed, venom dripping off my every word as I stared him down.

We sat there staring each other down for what seemed like an eternity. Neither of us moved or spoke, only dark looks on our faces and unspoken threats to each other's well being. I could tell by looking at his eyes that he's about to do something and it looked like it was well timed as we lashed out at the same time, me aiming a punch at his eye and him a slap to my cheek, both of which were blocked by the other. I growled in anger and tried again, getting in a punch to his mouth before I fell out of my seat as a strong hand connected with my cheek. Pushing myself up, I studied the Hatter's face as that look of cold terror etched its way across his face as he reached for me again. "Alice, I..." he started, pausing at the glare I gave him and brought myself to my feet.

"And to think you actually consider yourself my friend. Obviously, our definitions of friendship is off 'cause _my_ definition of friendship doesn't involve friends hitting each other," I hissed, slapping him across the face hard enough to dislodge his hat from his head before turning on a heel and stalking off from the table and into the woods.

"Alice, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-!" he called after me, ducking as I threw a rock at him.

"You stay the hell away from me, you crazy bastard!" I screeched, continuing to run down the path into the woods that surrounds the tea table and the apparent home of the Mad Hatter. The further I walked, the more the house disappeared from sight until I could no longer make it out among the trees or hear the partygoers' conversation that's more than likely going on at the moment around the tea table.

(Hatter's POV)

I watched the spot Alice disappeared from view with thinly veiled despair and looked to gauge Jack's reaction to what transpired and found a glare instead. "I told you not to do that! Your scaring her and slapping her like that got your ass banned from seeing Alice by the White Rabbit all those years ago and I won't doubt he'll ban you from seeing her again when he hears you've done it again," he chided, rising from his seat to deliver a punch to my right eye.

"She riled me up, Jack! I can't help when it comes over!" I protested, moving to leave the yard only to get held back by Chip's, the young Dormouse, hand on my arm.

"If you go after her, she'll spaz out again. Let me go get her," he said, looking up at me with pleading eyes.

I raised a questioning eye brow at the young child and asked, "You're actually willing to go into Cheshire's territory to get her?" Chip seemed to have forgotten the preteen that hangs around in the woods surrounding my home and a look of fear and paranoia came over his face and clung to my arm. "You can come with me, then," I sighed, taking the younger boy's hand in mine and began our walk to find Alice.

The walk down the path was silent, save the sounds of the creatures hiding in the trees as we searched for the wayward blonde. "Alice! Where are you?" the younger boy called out, skipping ahead of me, occasionally looking under a nearby mushroom, pebble, or leaf to see if she may be hiding under it before moving on. The scene the young Dormouse was making made a smile tug at my lips in amusement, bringing to mind the memories when Alice was a frequent visitor to the endless tea party that went on in my front yard and talked me into taking her on a walk through the woods to sate her curiosity.

I paused, ears perking at the sound of a little girl giggling and looked in the direction the sound came from. "Betcha can't find me, Mr. Hatter!" the little girl giggled, making me give pause at the realization that I'm hallucinating again.

"I don't have time for this," I muttered, moving to look around a tree to find my hallucination of a seven year old Alice sitting on the ground with her hands covering her mouth to stifle her giggle fit. "I don't have time for this!" I groused, glaring down at the child.

Alice's lower lip trembled slightly as she pouted at me and asked, "Is there another game you'd rather play?"

I thought on that a moment and tried in vain to keep the 'games' I would like to play with her in the back of my mind and replied, "I'm already playing a game with the real you and it's called 'Locate the Runaway Alice and Drag Her Ass Back to the Tea Party Whether She Wants to or Not'!"

"Here's another one you can play and it's called, 'Sating My Curiosity'," she said snappishly, crossing her arms, continuing to stare me down.

Looking up to find a staring Chip, I scowled and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"Who are you talking to? Took me a minute to realize you weren't following me," Chip asked me, cocking his head to the side as he tried to figure out my antics of talking to an empty space behind a tree.

"Hey, if I were Alice, where would I go to find some peace and quiet? Like the one place you showed me that lights up like fireworks at night..." my hallucination piped up, and I made a noise of delight at the revelation.

"C'mon, Chip. I know where Alice is."

(Alice's POV)

Standing along the lake's edge, I marveled at the view and took in the sound of the waterfall that poured into the silent body of water. "I guess this is alright. No homicidal maniacs yelling at me, no mind games... nothing," I mused, taking a seat in the grass and took in the serene view before me from the bright blue sky above me to the patches of flowers and willows lining the bank and tall grass growing well past my ankles.

"Peaceful, isn't it?"

I jumped, ready to run if the Hatter were to appear and turned to find, much to my relief, it wasn't the Hatter, but instead a boy of around eleven years old with purple cat ears on his head and a smile on his face. Almost everything he's wearing is purple except the sleeves of his jacket, shirt, and pants, which is all black and lined with a deep royal blue.

"Where did you come from?" I asked, glancing around the clearing to determine if there is anyone else besides me and the cat-boy.

"Nowhere," he replied, the grin never wavering.

"Who are you?" I pressed, keeping one eye trained on the boy and the other on the tree line.

"Cheshire," he replied, glancing over his shoulder before adding, "If you don't wanna get caught, I would hide."

"What do you mean?" I questioned uncertainly, anxiety rising at the implication of who 'he' is.

"You know who 'he' is and I also know you don't wanna get caught by him. If I were you, I'd start climbing and hide in the tree," Cheshire said, vanishing into thin air as the final words were uttered.

"How did he figure I came here? Damn it!" I cursed, running for the tree and climbed into the high branches, hoping they're dense enough if he looked up he won't see me. Just as I settled into a fork between the branches and the trunk, the Hatter entered the clearing with a self satisfied look on his face.

"Alice, where are you?" he called out in a singsongy voice, making his way to the lakeshore and glanced around, chuckling lightly as a younger boy came into sight, exclaiming his excitement and splashing around in the shallow water. "C'mon, are you still sore from me hitting you? I wasn't planning to do that, you know. I don't want to hurt you, I just want to help you, but you need to come out so we can work on things. There is nothing I would love more than for you to call me by your pet name you had for me when you were little. Do you remember what you used to call me? You called me 'Big Brother' and I called you 'Cricket' because when you spent the night in my home, you would wake me up in the middle of the night just to see if I was asleep yet or having a good dream," he said, addressing me, not particularly looking around for my hiding place, but instead watching the child that came with him.

"You know, I sort of figured you would come and try to hide here, Alice. This was your favorite spot to come explore other than my workshop. I remember you always sneaking in to try and nab my hat off my head while I wasn't looking, but you always forgot about the squeaky floorboards. And here..." he trailed off, a ghost of a smile spreading across his face as he turned to look at the tree and stared up at me through the branches as if the tree were bare of its leaves and I'm sitting in the open. "... you always did hide up there in that exact same tree. Especially when you were upset or like now... when you knew you were in hot water with me." I paled.

_He knows I'm up here? The Hatter must know more things about me than I do_, I thought, remaining still and hoping he'll think I'm not here if I don't respond to him.

"Come down here, Cricket. I won't hurt you, I just have a knack for doing things without thinking is all," he coaxed, offering what, to him, seemed like an encouraging smile. For a minute, he remained quiet to allow me time to respond when he growled in annoyance and nearly shouted, "Fine! We'll do this _your_ way! Chip and I'll sit here all day if we have to till you come down yourself!" With that, the Hatter took a seat on the ground directly beneath me, looking up at me, his gaze not wavering.

"Oh, my God, why can't he just go away?!" I whispered harshly, glaring down at him as he watched me with interest. A few hours of this later, I sighed in annoyance and looked down to find him still leaning against the tree with the mouse child pressed against him, both asleep. _Now's my chance_, I thought frantically, quickly and quietly scaling down the tree and back onto the soft grass of the clearing. Turning slightly to make sure Hatter really is asleep, I looked him over and took note of his shallow breathing and the peaceful expression on his face, nodding satisfactorily at my conclusion that he's not faking and turned my back on him to leave. Racing across the clearing, I jumped at the sound of a loud pop beneath my feet and froze, glancing down to see a rather large twig under my feet.

"Where do you think _you're_ going, Teacup?"

I cringed, suddenly aware of the Hatter's yellow eyes boring into my back and slowly turned to meet his gaze. I watched in paranoia as he picked himself up and made his way to where I stood in a slow, predatory fashion with a look on his face to match his demeanor. "You're not answering me," he said darkly, "where do you think you're going?"

"Anywhere to get away from you," I said valiantly, trying to keep my voice from shaking and stand my ground as he stopped short of every inch of him being pressed against me.

"That's real cute, Alice, but you're coming back to the tea party with me... whether you want to or not," he hissed, forcing me closer to him and pressed a chloroform soaked cloth to my face and the world faded to black as I fell into unconsciousness, the last thing I see is the devious smile on his face as I go limp in his arms.

(Hatter's POV)

"Good girl, Alice," I crooned, looking over the sleeping form in my arms and shifted my hold on her to carry her bridal style back to my house. "Same ol' Alice; always puttin' up a fight. But no matter, I always get what I want," I said satisfactorily, starting to make my way out of the clearing with Chip in tow.

"What do we do with her now, Hatta?" Chip asked, trotting alongside me with that little skip in his step as he looked up at me with an expectant look on his face.

"Now we go back to pick up the Jack Rabbit and head on our way to meet the Queen," I replied, a smirk playing over my features in pleasure of finally getting to see Alice again and accomplishing our mission.

Approaching the table, Chip ran ahead and tackled Jack from behind, though the smaller boy didn't make him budge no more than three steps forward from the child's momentum. "Yo, Jack, we're heading off to see the Queen. Wanna come with?" I called out, getting rewarded with a death glare and a middle finger raised in the air. I scowled at him and shouted after him, "Hey, jackass, you either wanna come with us or you don't!"

"What is your deal, Brian?!" Jack shouted angrily, tipping a few chairs over and throwing a couple teacups at me.

"What are you talking about? I don't have a deal!" I screamed back, gently easing Alice on the ground before approaching the rabbit-boy.

"Yes, you do! Ever since the incident with Johnny so many years ago, I've been walking on eggshells around you and tried to be patient with you, but all you've done is be a jackass yourself and scare off the only girl that loved you like a brother and shake her around like she's a damn rag doll!" the brunette snapped, taking up a knife and brandished it dangerously, just _daring _me to try and pick a fight with him.

I bristled at the comment as he brought up the Dormouse that hung out around the table with us before Chip and cried out, "What do you want me to do? Say I'm sorry kiss, and make up?! I don't work like that, Jack!"

"Well, you'd better get into the habit of it, Brian, 'cause she doesn't trust you and you're not trying to regain it! Alice will never trust you if you keep acting like this! If you want to keep me, Chip, and Alice coming around, I suggest you clean up your act real quick or get yourself a new set of friends," Jack shot back, that dark look never leaving his face as he threw the knife down to embed its tip in the table and stalked past me to where Chip stood next to a still unconscious Alice, gathering Alice's form in his arms and taking his leave.

I watched as Chip paused at the edge of the clearing, watching me with what looked like a cross of uncertainty and disappointment. "Come on, Chip. We're outta here," Jack ordered, jerking his head in the indicated direction before the child waved goodbye and followed after the older boy, leaving me alone.

(Jack's POV)

"Where are we going, Jack?" Chip questioned, kicking at the occasional rock on the path as we walked.

"The Queen of Hearts' castle, naturally. We were told to bring her there, were we not?" I replied, casting a look down at the eight year old mouse-child before fixing my gaze straight ahead. With those words exchanged, we settled into companionable silence as we continued on our way to the castle.

"Jack?" Chip asked, breaking the silence that reigned over our walk.

"Hmm?" I hummed, not necessarily paying attention to the little boy.

"What happened to Johnny? Hatta got pretty mad about it," he questioned me, making me pause and mentally kick myself. Johnny was Chip's older brother who had died at the Hatter's hands years ago, the information as to who killed the older Dormouse remained a mystery to the child and I was threatened by the deranged hatmaker to keep my mouth shut or I would suffer the same fate and a short week after it happened, a lost and orphaned three year old Chip came to us seeking harbor in Brian's home. Until now.

"Chip, Hatter got pissed at me for bringing it up in front of you. But since you asked and he was your brother, you deserve to know," I sighed, prepared to deal with whatever wrath the small boy could muster up and throw at me. "Years back when Johnny hung around us, he went mad and tried to kill Hatter in his fit and... Brian killed him in self defense. Hatter didn't want you to know this because he didn't think you were ready to know what happened. I'm sorry, Chip, but he threatened to kill me behind your back and he made me keep my mouth shut," I sighed, closing my eyes and trying to keep my gaze off the eight year old as he gaped at me with a look of sorrow and anger in his eyes.

Thanks to Chip, the journey from the Hatter's house to the castle took longer than expected, eventually giving him a dose of mushroom and a whiff of chloroform courtesy of the rag Hatter had tied around Alice's face to keep her under so I could stick the child in my jacket pocket and continue on my way, reaching my destination well after nightfall. After confronting the guards outside the palace for a good ten minutes, they finally let me into the castle walls and made my way for the throne room.

"Jack Haigha Rabbit, what a pleasant surprise," the Queen of Hearts greeted, stifling a yawn with her hand.

"Your Majesty," I said, trying my best to give her a little bow without dropping the unconscious young woman in my arms or hurting Chip, who had only just started waking up a half hour before we arrived. "I know it's rather late to come calling on you, but I've come with Alice just as you requested," I said professionally, getting rewarded with a smile and excited whispers from the courtiers standing around the expansive room. Rising from her throne, she approached me with restrained enthusiasm and looked over Alice's face, frowning as she studied the wicked bruise adorning her left cheek.

"What happened to her face?" She asked me, dark brown eyes filled with a fury that would make Satan himself run pissing in terror of the woman. I winced.

"There was a scuffle between her and Brian, Your Majesty, but if it makes you feel better, Alice busted his lip and I gave him a black eye for hitting her," I replied, allowing the Queen to remove the cloth from Alice's face and ordered a guard to take her to a room. "Your Highness, if I may ask you, what do you need Alice for?" I asked the woman, receiving a sort of smile and wagged a finger at me.

"The true reason as to why Alice is here and the details of the mission itself that requires Alice be here is for her ears only, Jack. When she wakes, I will inform her of what is to be expected of her," she said vaguely, watching as the guard disappeared from sight with Alice. "You did good, Jack," the Queen murmured, dismissing me with a wave of her hand.

"Have a pleasant rest of your evening, Your Majesty," I responded, bowing deeply and just about making Chip fall out of my pocket as I backed out of the room.

"Took you two long enough to get here," the Hatter's voice commented, getting me to turn on a heel and march down the hall to where he stood leaning against a wall, smirking at us in amusement.

"What are _you_ doing here? How did you get here before us?" I snapped at him, pulling Chip out of my pocket and sitting him on the floor with the other half of the mushroom I made him eat so he could grow back to his proper size.

"Dude, seriously, you never thought to use a Looking Glass? I've been waiting on you to make an appearance all day," Hatter replied smugly, a manic smile crossing his features as some random thought passed though his mercury addled head that more than likely had something to do with Alice.

Grabbing onto the lapels of his jacket, I slammed him against the marble walls and ground out, "I swear to you, Brian, I will kill you if you so much as look in her direction the wrong way! You understand? I want you and Alice to be friends again, but I don't want it to be an abusive relationship masquerading as a good friendship!"

"Jack, I didn't come here so we could argue over whether or not I can see my little Cricket and I'm ultimately going to be able to come within arm's reach of her," Brian sighed, taking off his trademark top hat and running a hand through his hair and looking up and down the hallway in a helpless manner before looking back at me and ignoring the murderous look on Chip's face (possibly suspecting I had enlightened him on what I said about Johnny, which I did) aimed at him.

"Come on, Chip. Let's go hunker down in a room for the night. We're in for a big day ahead of us in the morning," I said, draping my arm around the boy's shoulder to start leading him down the hallway stopping a good distance down the hallway at the Hatter's soft mumble of, "I don't want to hurt her, Jack, and I don't mean to when I do."

Looking at him from over my shoulder, I replied, "I know, Brian, but you need to mind your temper. That's what got your ass banned from seeing her to begin with and the reason she's terrified of you. Like I've told you before, you need to be gentle and compassionate. You know, show her some qualities of yours that she so adored about you when she was little."

"It's been so long, Jack, I may have forgotten what qualities you're referring to," he whispered, trailing slowly behind me and Chip.

"Well, you'd better do some digging and find them again. Do something that would spark some old memories in her and maybe she won't be so afraid," I said, sparing one last glance at the pink haired hatmaker before continuing down the hallway.

(Alice's POV)

Opening my eyes for the first time in what felt like an eternity, I found myself staring up at a high ceiling in a lavishly decorated room and sat up, trying to figure out where I am and how I came to be here. The room is the color of blood, accented with black and gold on the walls and tapestries and the décor followed a similar path in terms of colors and designs. The designs of skillfully crafted wooden furniture and card suits were carved and painted on everything in the room, decorating the space from the ceiling and bedspread to the drapes hanging over the window and furniture. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I pushed myself onto my feet and looked around to take in every detail I possibly could. To the right of the bed, there is a massive window that opens up to a balcony and a mahogany wardrobe occupies the wall opposite. To the immediate right of the bed is a nightstand and beside it is a writing desk and somewhere towards the middle of the room is two love seats and three extra chairs situated near a table in the middle of the cluster of furniture. Walking away from the bed, I noticed a door on the far side of the wall to my left and made a beeline for it and opened the door to find it contained a bathroom and yet another door on the wall opposite.

Cocking my head to the side in curiosity, I grabbed the knob and turned it, screaming when Hatter appeared on the other side, smiling devilishly at seeing me. "Well, hello, Cricket. Fancy seeing you here," he said casually, opening the door wider and reached for me. I flinched away and scowled, pushing him back and slamming the door in his face, hurriedly exiting the room and blocking it with a chair jammed underneath the door knob. "Open the door, Alice. I'm not going to hurt you," the Hatter's voice coaxed me, his voice smooth and velvety, daring me to go against my better judgment of keeping him away, but with a dangerous underlying edge to it like steel wrapped in in a silken veil.

"You want in, Hatter? You'll have to break the door down and come get me!" I shouted, racing for the door and locking it before he could exit the room adjoined to my own and come in through the main entrance to the room. I waited a few moments, listening as footsteps sounded on the other side of the huge double doors and, much to my surprise, a knock sounded accompanied by a woman's voice calling, "Alice, are you awake?"

Unlocking the door and opening it a crack, I peeked out to find a young woman with brown hair and cat ears, offering me a smile. I didn't offer her one back, having more interest in glaring at the pink haired teenager watching me a good distance away from the door, yellow eyes watching me with interest and an evil smile on his lips. "Her Majesty sent me to help you get dressed for the day," she said kindly and I opened the door wider for her to come in, still wary of the action because of the deranged young man's proximity to the door. "I'm Anna Marie," she said, introducing herself as she closed the door behind her and made for the wardobe, pausing only to quirk a questioning eyebrow at the chair jammed underneath the bathroom door. "Now to find something that would suit you..." she muttered to herself, pulling out a low cut, baggy white shirt, a black leather corset, and an ankle length skirt sky blue skirt. "Put this on and be quick about it! The Queen wants to see you," she said, pushing me towards the bathroom to change. Quickly changing out of my clothes and into the outfit chosen for the day before the Hatter could open the door adjoining our rooms together and stepped back out. "That looks _stunning_ on you!" Anna Marie exclaimed, clapping her hands together in approval, making me blush before she took my arm and rushed me out of the room and through different corridors, stopping me in front of a high rising set of double doors guarded by life sized playing cards. "Remember, always say 'yes, Your Majesty' or 'no, Your Majesty', curtsey when you are introduced, and do _not_ ever, under any circumstances... set off the Queen's temper," the cat-girl said sternly, fussing with my hair a few moments before signaling the guards to open the door and announce our arrival.

"Your Majesty, I have brought Alice just as you requested," Anna Marie said, curtsying as she brought the ebony haired woman's attention to us. The Queen smiled, approaching us and dismissed everyone with a wave.

"At long last, Alice has returned to Wonderland!" the woman sighed happily, taking my arm and looping it through the crook of her elbow and guided me out of the room.

"Your Majesty, those madmen that kidnapped me said you had a mission for me. Why me and what is it you need from me?" I asked, watching in fascination as we traversed the halls and walked outside into a beautiful garden.

"That, my dear, is something that borders on the impossible," the woman said, stopping altogether in our walk and turned to face me fully. "Dear, there is no way for me to gently tell you something like this, so I will get on with it and tell you your mission is to bring the Hatter back from over the edge of madness," she said seriously, looking me in the eyes, her tone leaving no room for argument from me as I froze, trying to register everything the Queen had said.

"How do you propose I do that? The man's irredeemably insane!" I exclaimed incredulously, watching as the woman bent down and began picking sprigs of a nearby plant and held them out for me to take.

"How you retrieve him from the depths of insanity is up to you, Alice. For now, we must go and meet with the Hatter. He told me to bring you to him after you had a chance to properly wake up. Come along," she said, taking my arm and leading me back inside the castle.

Stopping me outside the room I had woken up in, the Queen passed me off to a pair of card soldiers and escorted me further into the room where the Hatter sat on the couch waiting for us with a crazed smile on his face. "So glad you could finally join me, Alice. I trust your walk in the garden with the Queen was enjoyable?" he greeted, rising from his seat and casually strolled over to where the guards held me. I recoiled as he tried touching my face and glared as he caught my face in his hands and blushed as his hands slipped down my jaw line to my collarbone and stopped short of the collar of my shirt and let them move even further down to my hips and gave them a light squeeze. "My God, this outfit does _wonders_ for your figure, Cricket. It's a shame you're too shy to show me what other wonders your body has to offer," he said lewdly, his yellow eyes roaming over my body and possibly undressing me in his head.

"Pervert!" I hissed, the glare never leaving my face as his gaze traveled back to mine and gave me a smile.

"Dear Cricket, our fun has only just begun!" the Hatter exclaimed, motioning with a hand at the guards before they tossed me onto the bed and jumped onto it after me, catching my ankle and pulling me back when I tried to get away, laughing crazily as I tried to fight him.

"Let go of me!" I screamed, fear and panic swelling in my chest as I felt his chest press against my back and quickly flipped me over to face him. Locking eyes with him, I could see something that looked like regret in his eyes before it disappeared and the insane glint in his eyes returned, pinning my wrists above my head with one hand and reached for something I hadn't noticed and felt it being slipped around one of my hands and then the other before he sat up still straddling my waist before getting off me entirely and repeated the same action of restraining me. "Why are you doing this to me?!" I screamed, terror in my eyes as I fought against my restraints and watched the Hatter disappear from the room only to return a few moment later with a branding iron in hand.

"Hold still, Cricket. I promise it won't hurt too much," Hatter crooned, a look of mock sympathy on his face as I continued to struggle against my bindings.

"Why are you doing this to me?!" I cried again, horrified of what he's about to do with the glowing iron rod in his hands, my eyes never leaving it.

A smile to mock the Devil spread across his face as he leaned in and whispered, "Believe me, I didn't want it to come to this, Cricket." With that, he waved a hand at me and one of the two cards took hold of my face and pinned it down with my right cheek exposed to the Hatter. My eyes widened considerably as he brought it to my face and whimpered in fear, my eyes squeezing tight and let out a crystal shattering scream as a white hot sensation bloomed across my cheek, crying as the iron was removed and taken to my hands, making me involuntarily arch my back in pain and scream again, the iron sizzling as it made contact with my flesh as Hatter pressed the burning piece of metal to my other hand, watching me a moment before handing the brand to a card and waited for the two to leave before sitting down to study me.

"I didn't want this to happen, but the Queen ordered it be done. It was only a matter of whether it will happen at my hands or the hands of another," he sighed, watching me as I cried from the pain in my hands and cheek. My hands and face felt like they've been set on fire and my throat hurt from me screaming and my wrists and ankles had been rubbed raw from me thrashing around, trying to wriggle my way out of my bindings in a panicked frenzy. My body ached and felt like one massive bruise and wanted nothing more than to pass out and sleep till next month.

"If you didn't want it, why did you do it?" I ground out, my voice hoarse from hitting ungodly decibels from my screams of agony.

"I didn't press down as hard as anyone else would've done, Cricket. Someone else would've pressed down hard enough that the mark would show up on the backside of your hand. Be happy it was me," he said, that hard edge coming to his voice as he stared me down. "Here, this will take away the pain," he said, pulling a cup from seemingly out of nowhere and offered it to me with an encouraging smile. I watched the offered drinking vessel with suspicion, my gaze flicking between the Hatter and the teacup and turned my head away, refusing it.

"For all I know, you want me drink it because it'll kill me," I said with a bit of apprehension in my voice, watching my unwanted companion and kidnapper from out of the corner of my eye.

He frowned and looked into the cup to scrutinize its contents and replied, "Alice, if I wanted you dead, I would've just went on and did it in your world. Why bring you here and kill you when I could've done it the moment I found you in front of your parents and make them suffer?" I paused, thinking over that and he was right; if he wanted me dead, he would've killed me long before now.

"I still won't drink it, Hatter," I said defiantly, watching as he sighed in exasperation and nearly shouted, "_Fine_! We'll do it your way!" With that, Hatter brought the teacup to his lips and knocked it back, taking my face in his hands and pressed his lips to mine in a forced kiss, making me moan in disgust as he forced my mouth open and let the liquid pour from his mouth to mine. Pulling away, I gagged and coughed on the suspicious drink that was forced down my throat, a sudden feeling of lightheadedness coming over me as the Hatter took on an expression of what looked like self satisfaction as I fought to stay awake.

"Stop fighting it, Teacup. Just give in to it," the Hatter murmured, reaching over to brush my bangs out of my face lovingly and smiled as I finally gave in and fell into unconsciousness for the third time in just two days due to something that somehow involved chloroform.

(Aboveland)

"Mr. and Mrs. Liddell, if there's anything you can remember about the man that took your daughter now is the time to tell us. We'll do everything we can to bring Alice home safe," a police officer, the nametag read his name is Officer Adam Duran, said, watching the worried couple before him.

"Alice told us she saw him in her dreams every night but she never told us his name. Alice started acting real jumpy a little over a week before when a young man was watching her across the street and followed us everywhere during our girls' day out. And there was something about a white rabbit she said popped up in places everywhere she went for almost a week and she just decided to chase it and next thing I know, there's gunfire and I go to see what was happening and I saw Alice in the arms of that boy," Alice's mother, Helen, sobbed, hugging her husband tightly.

The officer took a few moments to register what information had been given to him and said, "Let me get this straight, you had a young man stalk your daughter, then a white rabbit decides to stalk her, and then she's just kidnapped by a boogeyman that haunts her dreams?"

"That was no boogeyman, Adam. My daughter has been scared witless for ten years, but she never told us why and when she finally does, we find the young man is actually real and takes her away! I have ten years worth of proof that she has seen him long before some nutcase decides to play dress up and abduct my daughter," Alice's father, Charles, snapped, getting up and leading the officer up to the teen's vacant room and straight to the writing desk. Turning on the lamp that occupied the surface, he took up the sketchpad and began flipping through the pages, each one filled with pictures of the Hatter, either sitting at a table with a cup of tea in hand or covered in blood and armed with a gun, a crazed look on his face as he stood over a dead body. Officer Duran took his time flipping through the pages and checked the dates the pictures were drawn that were scribbled in the bottom corner of each page, finding that the dates went as far back as two years and reached for another sketchpad and looked through that one as well, also finding the pictures predated the kidnapping. With each book full of pictures he went through, the more the pictures became less professional-looking and the further the dates went back until reaching May 2, 2002 scribbled across the bottom in the handwriting of a child that didn't have much practice with a pencil.

"That's impossible," the man said to himself, shaking his head at a picture of a poorly drawn man with pink hair wearing a top hat and another two men, one featuring brown scribbles above his head in a child's interpretation of rabbit ears and the other had little circles on his head and a scribble that attached to the figure's hip, more than likely reaching behind him, in an interpretation of mouse ears and a tail. Other strange pictures of people like these included a cat-man hybrid with a wide smile on his face, a dragon-esque creature, some sort of bird, a blue caterpillar, a large doglike creature, life sized chess pieces and playing cards among other things.

"Adam, I think my daughter knows who he is. Who knows what he will do to her if we don't find and stop him!" Charles exclaimed, waving his hands at the open sketchbooks scattered across the desktop.

"I don't think so, Charles. I was there when he abducted her and Alice didn't seem to know who the guy was. She was scared, Charlie, and if she knew who he was why look so scared of him?" Officer Duran countered, tearing his gaze away from the pictures to his friend.

"She could've been playing the part of a scared kidnap victim for all you know," Charles exclaimed, glancing around the room and frowned slightly at seeing a faint glowing light under his missing daughter's bed. "What is that?" he asked, pointing out the small, blinking red light and pulled it off from the bed frame to stare at it intently.

"Looks like a bug. Someone definitely wanted to get to your daughter," Officer Duran said, taking the listening device away to study it himself.

"What would they want with Alice?" Helen piped up for the first time since they entered the empty room.

"Well, whatever it was, they felt it was important enough to bug her room. More than likely, the young man that kidnapped her broke in at one point and got the idea for his costume from the pictures when he placed this in here," Officer Duran's silent partner, Officer Janette Rayman, spoke up, eyeing the drawings of the Hatter.

"Maybe, maybe," Charles said thoughtfully, turning the light out and leading them back downstairs to the living room.

"If there's anything else you can tell us regarding the young man, just let us know," Officer Rayman said as the two cops took their leave.

"I'm sorry this happened to you. Truly, I am. We will do everything in our power to get Alice back," Officer Duran said sincerely, watching the parents with sympathy before closing the door behind him.

"Helen, they will find Alice," Charles said softly, bringing his wife into a comforting hug.

"What if they don't, Charlie? What if that monster killed her?" Helen sobbed, looking up at the man.

"Don't say that, Helen. They're going to find her," Charles said firmly, looking up to the ceiling with a look of helplessness at the situation his only daughter is in, saying a quick prayer that Alice would be alright until the authorities could find her.


	5. Flashback: Hat Nabbing

**Author's Note: Here's a little something to amuse you all till I can finish the next chapter of the fic. Each of these little stories are flashbacks from the time when Alice was a child and friendly with the Hatter. These, like the other chapters for "**_**Nightmares in Wonderland**_**", will be alternating between it being told from the Hatter and Alice's POV. Enjoy!**

**Just so you all know, these short little nothings will pop up from time to time when I get writer's block for the actual story and they're not exactly in the category of mystery/suspense, but rather friendship and family. Another thing you should know, they will come in no particular order and happen at any time from after she met Hatter and the others for the first time or during the time she has begun to visit Wonderland more frequently. This was a cute idea I couldn't pass up and I may upload another thing with all the flashbacks I upload in between chapters later to something different all together as a collection of oneshots.**

**I work hard on these things, so do me a favor and favorite and follow my story! Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Please? Reviews make me **_**very**_** happy and put me in a writing mood to write another chapter. :)**

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_Flashback: Hat nabbing_

(Alice's POV)

Watching the door the Hatter disappeared through, I looked over at Jack and Johnny as they conversed with each other, the two older boys not minding Hatter's abrupt departure from the table and acting oblivious to me even being here. My gaze flicked between the shed like structure and Jack a moment longer before tapping his arm, but he didn't seem to notice. Looking up at the older boy, my eyes landed on his long, floppy brown ears and carefully stood up in my chair to reach one and tugged on it like I always did when I wanted something from him.

"OW! Alice!" Jack shouted, yanking his ear out of my hand and turned to glare at me. "What is it _this_ time? You don't have to have my permission to take a leak," he said irritably, rubbing over the tender spot on his ear. "What's in there? Mr. Hatter hasn't come out yet and he said it wouldn't take too long," I said, pointing at the structure a few yards away from the house. Glancing in the direction I indicated, Jack replied, "That's Hatter workshop. When he feels inspiration come on him for a hat, he drops everything and goes and makes a hat." "Can I go get him?" I asked, turning hopeful eyes on the rabbit-boy. "I guess so, but when you go in there, don't enter the back room," Johnny said, shrugging. I made a confused face at him. "Why? What's back there?" I asked. "Stuff he uses in his trade. Stuff that you don't need to get around," Johnny replied, waving me off.

"Hey, let's make this a little more interesting than seeing what's inside the Hatter's workspace. I'll tell you what..." the Dormouse said, getting my attention before I could leave, "If you can slip in there and bring us the Hatter's hat without him noticing, I'll give you a piece of cake twice as big as what we normally give you. Deal?" I thought on this a moment. The piece of cake I normally get is a small sliver and I never get more when I ask, so it seems like a good deal to me. "Deal," I said finally, taking Johnny's hand and shook it before jumping out of my seat to start walking the short distance to Hatter's workshop door and paused as I grabbed the knob. The Hatter's never seen without his hat and is pretty protective of it. Taking it will be hard, especially if he's wearing it and would immediately notice if I make a grab at it. I giggled, knowing Hatter would probably have a fit to find his hat went missing from under his nose. Cracking open the door, I spotted the wayward hatmaker from the tea table and spied his trademark white top hat and my objective sitting next to him on his work table before pushing the door open wider and closed it behind me without drawing his attention. Starting to cross the room, I cringed when a floorboard beneath me creaked and I looked up to see if the Hatter noticed, but he didn't seem to take notice of it and continued with what he was doing. I cocked my head to the side in wonderment of the pink headed teenager and giggled again, covering my mouth before he could notice.

(Hatter's POV)

Hearing the sound of giggling and the door being opened and closed, I paused with a needle in hand before I could stick it through my latest creation and listened carefully for more sounds before the sound of a squeaky floorboard and more giggling reached my ears and grinned. "Oh, Alice. Ever the curious little girl, aren't we?" I mused, going on with pretending to work on the half finished hat in front of me when more floorboards began squeaking and giggling sounded from behind me, signaling the blonde child coming closer to me, still thinking I'm oblivious to her presence. I stuck the needle through the fabric to keep with my charade of being busy, catching sight of Alice from out of the corner of my eye with a broad grin on her face, but instead of watching me, her eyes were on my hat and smirked, lashing out and grabbing her small wrist with all the suddenness of a lightning strike, getting her to shriek in surprise.

"Gotcha," I said, my smirk turning into a full fledged smile at the pouty face she always gives me when she doesn't get her way with me. "Not fair! How did you know I was here?" Alice said, pulling her hand away. "I heard you giggling when you came in and the floorboards. What are you doing in here?" I said, taking my hat out of her reach and sat it on my head. "Gimme the hat, Hatter!" she demanded, reaching her hand outward expectantly, her blue eyes never leaving my hat. "Why? It's mine; I don't have to if I don't want to," I replied, frowning as I reached up to touch the brim of the hat.

"Please? I promise I'll give it back," she pleaded desperately, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears, never retracting her outstretched hand. "Why do you need my hat so badly, Cricket?" I asked her, picking the child up to sit her on my lap as she buried her face in my chest to try and hide her tears. "Johnny told me he would give me a big piece of cake if I could get your hat and bring it back out to the table before you found out it was gone," the child sniffled, looking up at me with broken eyes as the tears began to fall. "Oh, Cricket. There's no need to cry," I soothed, patting her head gently in a soothing motion.

"Look, do you still wanna get my hat and get some cake? They would've just went ahead and given it to you if you asked," I said, feeling sorry for the small girl for being teased by the other two boys that hung around my table. Alice nodded, pausing when I stood up and set her on the bench, turning away from her so she could climb on my back. Feeling the extra weight of the child on my back, Alice giggled and took my hat off my head, waving it around cheerfully as I headed to the door.

"Hey, have either of you guys seen Alice and my hat? I could've sworn I heard her come in," I called out, walking over to them, turning around and feigned confusion as Alice giggled, waving my hat around for Jack and Johnny to see. The other two boys snickered as I continued with my act and felt the weight on my back disappear as Alice dropped to the ground and bolted off toward the table. "Alice, get back here!" I called after her, following after her as she circled the table to where Johnny sat. "You owe me a big piece of cake!" Alice crowed happily, as I took my hat out of her hands and took a seat.

"You two wanna explain what that was about?" I questioned, watching the Hare and Dormouse carefully as Alice got her prize, squealing in delight of the treat. "Well, we agreed to give Alice a large piece of cake if she could nab your hat," Johnny said amusedly, watching the blonde child sitting between us eat her promised treat. "Don't be so cruel to her, you two. She started crying because of you dangling treats around in front of her and almost didn't get it. Need I remind you two numb nuts she's only seven?" I chided, leaning across the table to force Johnny's face into the cake, much to Jack's and Alice's amusement.

Catching the child watching me with a smile on her face, I winked at her, the two of us satisfied at what I did for Johnny's 'punishment'.


	6. Flashback: Sweet Dreams

**Author's Note: Another flashback filled with utter sweet and fluffiness! Leave a comment and tell me what sort of cuteness that would make the flashbacks even more cute for you! I promise these won't take over completely, but I will let them take over as a collection of oneshots later. Maybe. :D**

**Yeah, I know I already have one these up, but the next chapter gave me a bit of writer's block so you all get a flashback of Alice spending the night in Wonderland for the first time. Don't expect a lot from these things and they're going to be kept pretty short (but not short like the prologue or anything) and seriously, I'd like to hear what you'd like to see go down in these flashbacks and how to make them even more cute till it's unbearable!**

**Like I've said before, leave me a review, please!**

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_Flashback: Sweet Dreams and Things That Go Bump in the Night_

(Hatter's POV)

I don't know how she did it. I can't begin to imagine what her parents are thinking right now and possibly wondering where their daughter is.

And yet she managed to convince me...

... To let her spend the night.

Said young blonde was perched on the end of the bed in my guestroom looking out the window watching the stars while I silently cursed her big, blue eyes and letting her persuade me to let her stay the night. I shook myself as a squeal of delight sounded from the girl as she pointed out the window at a bright blue object streaking across the night sky. "Look, Mr. Hatter! It's a shooting star!" Alice squealed, looking up at me. Catching sight of it myself, I stifled a laugh and decided to keep the fact that Wonderland rarely ever witnessed phenomenon like that unless it was the Tweedles when they lit a fart with a match or set their pants on fire.

"Okay, Alice, time to go to sleep. I'll be up for a while longer outside and if you need something in the middle of the night, you can come get me," I said, watching the child crawl to the head of the bed and under the covers. "Do you know where my room is, Alice?" I asked her, watching as she kicked off the covers and followed after me as I stood in the doorway and pointed out the hallway on the other side of the living room. "My room is at the end of the hall on the right, bathroom's the first door on the left and if you can't wake me up, get Jack or Johnny in those rooms right there," I instructed, pointing to all the indicated rooms from the hall to the two doors flanking it. "Got all that?" I asked, looking down at her and she nodded, climbing back in bed and watching me expectantly as I came and tucked her in.

"Goodnight, Mr. Hatter," Alice whispered, kissing my cheek before I could react. "... Goodnight, Alice," I said haltingly, turning to leave when she caught my wrist before I could leave. Looking down at the small girl, I cocked my head to the side questioningly as she asked, "Well?" "Well, what?" I replied, still caught off guard from Alice's lips brushing against my cheek. "Aren't you going to kiss me goodnight, too?" the child asked. "... Alice, the only time I ever kissed someone that's younger or older than me was a family member," I said slowly, watching the blonde child as she sat there expectantly. "I won't sleep good if you don't. Mommy and Daddy _always_ kiss me goodnight, Mr. Hatter," she said, making me pause. "So that's why she's so insistent. A nightly ritual to be sated," I mused to myself, soft enough Alice couldn't hear and hesitantly leaned closer and placed a quick kiss on her forehead, turned out the light, and walked out.

Taking a seat at the head of the table, I sighed and looked up to the inky colored sky and saw that blue steak again and laughed. The more I thought on Alice thinking it's a comet, the harder I laughed until tears streamed down my face and my sides ached. "What's gotten you in such a good mood?" Jack questioned, smiling in amusement as he took in my state. Calming down enough to speak again, I wiped tears from my eyes pointed to the sky, and nearly screamed, "Alice thought that was a comet!" Jack and Johnny needed no indication of what Alice thought was a falling star and they laughed along with me until they were I the same state as I was in.

(Alice's POV)

Staring up at the ceiling, I jumped at every sound outside the house in fear before kicking the covers off and made for the door. Stumbling across the living room, I made a beeline for the room the Hatter indicated to be his and opened the door. Walking blindly around the room until finding the foot of his bed, I climbed in with him and shook his shoulder.

"Hatter?" I called, shaking his shoulder again.

The slumbering teen reacted to the sound of his name and mumbled something before going back to sleep.

"Hatter?" I called again and received no results. Sitting back and watching the fuchsia haired teen in the dark, I thought back to what he said to do if I couldn't wake him if I needed him. _If you can't wake me up, get Jack or Johnny_, he said to me and I crawled over him to leave for the rabbit-boy's room at the entrance of the hall.

Opening the door, I peered inside the dark interior, briefly wondering if I should wake him or not but dismissed the thought and moved further into the room to Jack's bedside. "Jack? I need something," I whispered, tapping his arm to try and wake the youth. I jumped as something fuzzy brushed against my arm and was temporarily stunned as the light flicked on to reveal a groggy eyed March Hare.

"What do you want, Alice? It's midnight," he groaned, yawning loudly to emphasize his point. "Mr. Hatter told me to get you or Johnny if I can't wake him," I said, getting rewarded with a scowl and a sigh. "What? This better be good," he muttered sleepily, kicking off the covers and sat up, waiting impatiently for me to tell him what I need so he can resume his sleeping. "I need you to wake Mr. Hatter for me," I said, Jack rewarding me with a strange look and walked out of the room, headed for the kitchen. Curious, I followed after him and watched as he filled a glass with water and went off down the hall to the Hatter's room. Stepping in the room, I found Jack had lit a candle on the nightstand and stood next to the Hatter's sleeping form, holding the glass over his head. "If you wanna wake somebody quickly and efficiently, this is the way to go," he commented, yawning again as he tipped the cup downward, spilling its contents on the Hatter's face and getting rewarded with a shout of surprise and coughing.

"What the hell, Jack?!" the other youth shouted, sitting up in bed with a glare on his face. Instead of answering, Jack handed me the now empty cup and stumbled out of the room. "You wanna explain why that happened?" he asked irritably, wiping at his face. "I couldn't wake you," I replied innocently, coming closer and crawling in bed to sit beside him. "So you had Jack pour water on my face?" he asked, anger subsiding to mild irritation. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hatter. I didn't know he was gonna do that. You told me to get Jack or Johnny and have them wake you up for me," I replied, getting a look of realization and a soft laugh. "Alice, that wasn't what I meant for you to do. I meant if you couldn't wake me, have Jack or Johnny get what you need instead. Okay?" he sighed, a tired smile on his face as he pulled me into a lopsided hug.

"Let's get down to business. What did you need from me that was so important you recruit Jack to hold a mini baptismal service in my room?" he asked, brushing his long bangs out of his face and yawned. "I'm scared, Mr. Hatter. There's a lot of animals outside making noises," I said, getting rewarded with the hug's embrace to tighten a little and a sort of chuckle of amusement. "What's so funny? How can you sleep with all those things just outside the house?" I asked, looking up to meet his gaze. "It comes with being born and raised in Wonderland. It scared the hell out of me when I was real little, but I grew accustomed to the things that go bump in the night," he replied, getting up to lead me back to the guestroom.

Picking me up and sitting me back down on the bed, he lifted the covers to allow me to crawl under them and let him tuck me back in. Having done his job, he turned to leave but paused when I called him back. "What is it, Alice?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder at me, a hint of frustration in his voice from being yanked away from being able to go back to sleep. "Will you stay with me? At least until I fall asleep?" I asked, sitting up and watched him hopefully. "I guess, but let me change out of this first. I can't stand things sticking to me like this. I'll be right back, Alice," he sighed, leaving the room.

(Hatter's POV)

Pulling my wet shirt over my head, I moaned softly at the feel of the drenched fabric rubbing against my skin, replacing it with a plain button up shirt and was about to jump back into the bed when I remembered my sheets are wet and Alice wanted me to come back. Yawning, I blew out the candle on my nightstand and exited the room and began to pick my way across the living space, pausing at the entrance to the guestroom to find the small child had pulled back the covers for me and was patting the spot beside her. I offered her a smile and obliged her unspoken invitation, settling into the indicated place beside her and immediately felt her snuggle up against my side and yawn. I shifted in place a few moments, eventually flipping onto my stomach and Alice responded to change of position by climbing on top of me and lying on my back, nuzzling my back and sighing in contentment.

This was how the March Hare and Dormouse discovered us that morning, with me on my side and Alice curled against my stomach and my arms wrapped protectively around her considerably smaller frame. Glancing up at the duo watching me from the entrance of the room, I held a finger to my lips and shook my head slowly in a silent command not to say a word for fear of waking the child. Before they could try to say something anyway, I whispered, "Go away. You're going to wake her. She didn't fare the night well with all the things going on outside. She needs to sleep." At catching sight of the cup of tea in Jack's hand, I carefully peeled myself out of the sleeping child's grasp and followed after them, leaving the door cracked open for Alice when she wakes up.


	7. Chapter 4: Mark of the Hatter, Part 1

**Author's Note: Finally, another chapter! I see a lot of you guys are sticking with this real close and following it, so keep it up 'cause it's about to get real interesting in the next few chapters. Just sayin'.**

**I mean it when I say I work hard on this and comments make me happy and put me in a mood to write another chapter. Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Please?**

**I have a quote from an "**_**Alice in Wonderland**_**" TV show in here, so bonus points to whoever can tell me where the quote came from and who said it! ;)**

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Chapter Four: Mark of the Hatter, Part One

Jolting awake, I sat up and looked around to find I'm back in the guest bedroom in the Mad Hatter's home. Moaning in anxiety of what is to come, I got out of bed and looked at my hands, finding they had been bound and the cloth used to bind them is stained with blood. "What did he do to me?!" I whispered, horrified at the bandages and froze as the door swung open to reveal the Hatter smiling softly at seeing me awake and came to stand before me and gently took my hands in his.

"How are we doing today, Cricket?" he asked, looking over the bandages on my hands. "I dunno. You drugged me three times in just two days and you stuck my hands and face with a branding iron! How do _you_ think I'm doing?!" I shouted, wrenching my hands away from him and went to walk out of the room only to be grabbed by the arm and forced to turn around to look at him. "Don't walk away from me! You would be wise to stick around until I say you can leave," he hissed threateningly, a malicious smile spreading across his face that somehow made him look even more insane than his 'best smile' did. I narrowed my eyes dangerously and snapped, "_You_ would be wise not to boss me around, Hat Man, because there _will_ be consequences for when you push me too far. Think I'm joking? _Just you hide and watch_." With that, I turned away only to get forced to turn around again. "You think I'm kidding? Unless you want to remove the bandages yourself, you better sit down, shut up, and _give me your hands!_" he snapped, pushing me down on the bed and began unwrapping my palms. The more my hands became visible, the wider my eyes became and the more I wanted to cry as an image of a black top hat and the words 'Mad Hatter' scrawled across my palms in blood red colored Gothic print was revealed underneath the bloodstained fabric. As the bandages on both my hands fell away, I tried stifling a sob of utter horror of the images branded on my palms and cheek. Grabbing hold of the patch covering my cheek, he ripped it away, leaving a searing pain behind and I screamed, reaching to hold my face in my hands, the sight only getting rewarded with a manic laugh from the Hatter as he patted my head.

"Oh, does it hurt, Cricket? Would you like me to kiss it and make it feel better?" the Hatter crooned in mock sympathy, grabbing a handful of my hair and dragging me to the mirror in the corner of the room to show me the mark on my face. "You see that, Cricket? If you ever run away, you won't get far 'cause when people see that mark, they will know you belong to me and they will bring you back to me kicking and screaming. You're mine, Alice, and there's nothing you can do to escape me. Wonderland will never let you out of its borders as long as my mark is on you," Hatter whispered in my ear, his eyes drilled onto my own in the reflection as I stood completely frozen in front of the looking glass as I took in the black mark burned onto my porcelain colored skin, a look of utter fear on my face. We stood there a few moments longer before the Hatter gave a sharp tug on my hair and dragged me into the living room, my fear quickly turning to anger as he continued to manhandle me. "Get away from me!" I shrieked, pulling myself away from him and delivered a slap across his face. "_From now on, whatever part of you touches me you will not be getting back!_" I snapped, emphasizing my words by stamping on his foot and walked outside to join Jack, a smug smile spreading across my face at the loud string of curses coming from inside.

"What happened in there?" was Jack's way of greeting as he looked over my shoulder at the door as the Hatter slunk out of the house after me with a scowl on his ashen features. "He's just pissed because I stood up to him and threatened bodily harm," I said in annoyance as he took a seat next to me and glared. "That's my girl!" Jack cheered under his breath, hiding a smile behind his cup. "He thinks I'm joking. That's what will make watching me beat his ass all the more funny," I said softly, getting Jack to snicker and Hatter's glare to get impossibly more dangerous than it already was.

"That's it! I've had enough of this!" the Hatter shouted, slamming a fist on the table and stalked off to a structure a short distance from the table and slammed the door behind him. "What got his panties in a twist?" I asked, looking over to Jack for an answer. "In his mindset, a woman must do what the man tells her, apparently, and he doesn't like that you got a backbone like granite," he replied before the mouse-child, whose name I learned to be Chip, joined the conversation and said, "At least now there's one person that's willing to stand up to him besides Jack, White, and the Queen."

"What did the Queen say your mission was? We were told it was for your ears only, but I'm just curious," Jack asked. "I'm supposed to do something that borders the impossible, even by Wonderland standards, 'cause this place seems to thrive on impossibility. I'm supposed to bring the Mad Hatter back from over the edge. I'd have more luck counting the number of dust specks in a house full of sneezing people," I replied, putting my head on the table in exhaustion, ready to crawl back in bed and sleep till next year even though the day has only just started. "How do you plan to do that?" Chip questioned, startling me as he crawled into my lap. "I don't know. How the hell am I qualified to fix someone that is so far gone it's a lost cause?!" I groaned, jumping when Hatter opened the door to the workshop again and returned to the table with a small box, a leash, and a collar.

"Don't even think about putting that on me!" I warned, leveling him with a glare. "Relax, will you? I'm just trying to spark up some old, forgotten memories," he replied, setting the box down and nudged it towards me. Like with everything he's given me before, I watched it warily before saying, "You open it." And like _he_ did before, the Hatter looked down at the innocent looking box and replied, "What do you think I did to the box, Alice? It's not like I put a disembodied limb in there." I wouldn't be budged. "I don't trust you and who knows what God awful thing you put in there! You open it." Sensing he will not be able to get me to do it myself and it's a futile effort in begging me to do it, the Hatter reached down and removed the lid of the box to reveal a light blue frock dress, complete with a white apron and a rag doll fashioned to look like a white rabbit in a waistcoat sitting on top of it. "That looks familiar," I murmured, pulling out the doll and looking intently into the little red buttons that were its eyes.

"I knew it would spark a memory," he said happily, leaning across the table before his eyes flicked between me and the dress in an unspoken request to poke around the box's contents. Setting the rabbit doll aside, I took up the dress and pulled it out of the box and found where I thought the collar of the dress was is actually the back of the dress and the collar came lower than I would've like for it to be and the skirt ended at the middle of my thigh. "Do you like it?" the Hatter asked expectantly, hopefulness shining in his unnatural eyes. "I think the collar is a little too low for my liking, but it's beautiful. Looks like something I would wear to seduce a man I handcuffed to the bed," I said, watching the outfit warily, sensing this is exactly how the Hatter wanted it to be. "I fashioned it after the dress you wore here on your first visit. The dress you were wearing was a little big and I figured you'd grow into it," he replied, a genuine smile on his face at seeing me admire the gift. Instead of dismissing the comment, I paused and looked up at him in surprise. "You made this? Last I checked, you were a hatmaker, not a dressmaker," I said, my gaze flicking between the article of clothing and the deranged young man on the opposite side of the table. "I _am_ a hatmaker, Alice, but sometimes, I just need a new shirt or pair of pants. Or, in your case, a dress," he answered, a proud smile on his face.

"Why don't you try it on?" Jack encouraged, offering me a smile. "Yes, Cricket, try it on. Put on a little fashion show for us," the Hatter said, getting me to scowl at him and say, "I haven't worn a dress since I was eight. Couldn't you make me something that doesn't suggest I want to get laid?" "Come on, lighten up, would you? It's all in good fun," Hatter exclaimed, leaning across the table. "How about this? I get something that looks like actual clothing instead of lingerie and I don't screw you so far up your ass you won't be able to sit straight till you're forty?" I said threateningly, throwing the dress at him and took the stuffed bunny off the table and headed back inside.

Closing and locking the door behind me, I moved to the window and drew the curtains to ensure none of the boys would be able to look in at me and carefully placed the toy rabbit on the pillow on the bed, smiling fondly as vague memories surfaced of me as a very young child dragging the toy around everywhere I went. Turning my attention to the closet, I went to open it to find nothing but dresses, all the same light blue as the dress Hatter made me. I scowled, rifling through each of the articles of clothing until finding an ankle length skirt and shoes that resembled ballet slippers and pulled them out and laid them on the bed. Before I could go to track down a shirt in the closet, a knock sounded at the door.

"What?" I called out, groaning in annoyance when the Hatter's voice answered, "Open the door." "Like hell I'm going to open the door! I could be naked for all you know!" I screeched indignantly, an image of him with a smirk of amusement on his lips at my indignation appearing in my mind's eye. "I saw you earlier, Cricket. You are fully clothed and looking for something to wear, no doubt," was his reply. "What do you want?" I snapped at him, already thoroughly annoyed with the young man. "I want you to wear that dress I made for you," he said. "Which one? Just looking in the closet, I can see you made quite a few," I answered irritably, silently willing the Hatter away. "The one I gave you earlier and you called it lingerie," he said, going ahead and opening the door despite the fact I had locked it. I gaped, my eyes locking onto the bronze key the pink haired young man held between his thumb and pointer finger smugly before pocketing the key and tossed the dress at me.

"Who do you think you are?! I'm a person, not a doll you can dress anyway you like!" I snapped, throwing the garment down. "Of course you're a person, Alice, but right now until you complete your mission, you belong to me," he said lightly, disguising the dark tones that underly his statement as he walked closer to where I stood. A glare overtook my features as I spotted the collar and leash from before. "Don't even _think_ about it," I warned, screaming in surprise as the Hatter lunged for me, pinning me against the wall and went to work getting the navy colored leather collar around my neck as I struggled against him, getting him to back off when I kicked him between the legs as the lock that would keep the collar from coming off clicked into place. I watched in satisfaction as he crumbled to the ground in pain, cursing.

"... Since you're so against it, I guess I won't be taking you to see the city," he said finally, straightening himself to his full height and glared. "The last time I was in a city in Wonderland, you went mad and killed somebody," I replied, not particularly wanting to bring up memories of the night I became haunted by those nightmares for ten years, but curious to see what it looked like during the day. "I see you're torn between staying and going, so I'll make the decision for you and say you're going," the Hatter commented, turning on a heel and left the room.

I watched the door for a few moments and sighed, seeing as I have no choice and pulled on the skimpy little outfit Hatter chose for me with the longer skirt underneath and the baggy white shirt from yesterday before opening the door and went to join for the deranged trio outside waiting for me. "It's about time, Cricket," Hatter exclaimed, attaching the leash to the collar. I glared. "Excuse me? Do I look like a dog to you?" I said incredulously, reaching up and tugged at the collar to pull it off to find it wouldn't undo itself. "Like I said, you're mine and you do as I say, nothing more and nothing less, a'ight?" he said, talking down at me. "Like _I_ said before; I'm not a _doll_ you can play dress up with and I most certainly _am not_ an animal you can drag around on a leash!" I snapped, yanking the leash from his hands and slapped him across the face.

"How true that is," Jack sighed, possibly referring to my declaration, laughing when Hatter tried to deliver a right cross to his face and narrowly missed him. "Let's go already!" Chip demanded, separating the brewing fistfight between the two older boys before it could start and took Jack's hand and dragged him to the edge of the clearing, pausing to look back at me and the Hatter expectantly, calling out, "You coming or not?" The Hatter watched the child and Jack a moment before shrugging and began moving toward them, yanking at my leash to make me follow, prompting a few unladylike words from my part as I grudgingly conceded his command to follow.

Following the Hatter, Jack, and Chip, as we navigated the busy streets of Wonderland, I blushed and kept my head down as people stared at me in disbelief as we passed them. "What do you think of Wonderland City, Alice?" Hatter asked cheerfully, tugging on my leash to make me pick up my pace. "I think the people of Wonderland is staring at me, Hatter," I replied timidly, glancing up at the colorful shops lining the streets and the equally brightly colored people occupying the streets with us.

Catching sight of something white ducking in and out of the crowds, I picked up my pace and walked as far ahead as the Hatter's leash on me would allow. "What's that?" I asked, pointing at the white thing that won my attention. Stopping altogether to stare at what got my attention, Hatter scowled and directed us into a nearby shop. "What? What is it?" Chip questioned, standing on his tiptoes attempting to see what Jack Hatter and I could. "It's White," Hatter muttered bitterly, his yellow gaze flicking between me and the youth walking past the shop, unaware of us watching him until he was out of sight. "Who?" I questioned, looking to Jack for an answer. "White Rabbit. You would know him better as Mr. Rabbit when you were seven. He's the reason you discovered our world to begin with," he explained, getting a noise of realization from me.

"Enough dwelling on the past! Let's get on with poking and prodding every nook and cranny Wonderland has to offer!" Hatter exclaimed loudly, making for the door before I could explore the interior of the shop he dragged us into to hide from White. "But... you said..." I started, trying to stop myself from being dragged after the pink haired youth so I could poke around the store to sate my curiosity. "Alice! Come on already!" Hatter cried, handing the leash to Jack as he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me along with him much to my embarrassment and because of the people staring at us and irritation at the constant manhandling.

"Let go of me, you mercury addled pervert!" I screamed, thrashing around in his arms and getting in a hit to his face, stunning him long enough that I pulled myself out of his grip and ran. "Alice, come back!" the Hatter yelled after me, shaking off his bewilderment and gave chase, trying to make a grab at the leash Jack had let go of in his surprise and finally caught hold of me. "Let me go!" I screamed, thrashing around in his arms as he dragged me back to the group.

"I'm getting tired of this, Cricket. Why can't you be obedient to me like when you were little?" the Hatter stated, a tone suggesting his weariness in his voice. "You want it like that because I obeyed anyone that was older than me when I was little!" I cried, throwing my hands up in exasperation. Before he could retort, a roll of thunder sounded from overhead. "Come on, guys. Looks like it's gonna come a downpour and I don't want to get caught out in it," Jack said, turning to walk away with me, Chip, and Hatter in tow, though the latter went running off into the crowd as if afraid of getting wet.

"What's his deal?" I asked, watching as the Hatter dipped in and out of my line of sight as he ran for the outskirts of the city. "Probably worried his makeup will get ruined," Jack said, shrugging. "Does he ever take it off?" I questioned and Jack responded with a shake of his head. "We might as well go and find him before he melts down the storm drain. Not that it'd be entirely tragic," I said, beginning the trek back to the Hatter's home with Jack and Chip in tow.

Even though it had begun to rain before we reached the outskirts of the city, my companions broke into a sprint with the mouse-child on Jack's back so we wouldn't lose him while I kept at my leisurely pace the whole walk back to the house. By the time I reached my destination, the light rain became a total downpour soaking me to the bone, but I didn't mind it in the slightest as I stopped a short distance from the front porch, relishing in the feel of the cool water as it fell from the sky above.

(Hatter's POV)

It was some time later that Jack and Chip had arrived back at my house, both soaked and about ready to collapse on the floor. I cocked my head to the side in questioning, not seeing Alice with them. "Where's Alice, Jack?" I asked them, hoping the blonde didn't take the opportunity to run away. "She's right behind us. Enjoying the rain, no doubt," Jack replied, trudging past me and depositing Chip on the sofa before he made his way into his room.

Moving to the window overlooking the yard, I watched and waited for Alice to make an appearance. Just as I began to lose hope of her coming and debating on whether or not I should go look for her, the blonde woman strode into the clearing as if she had not a care in the world and not raining. As she came closer to the house, she stopped, tilting her head upward and lifted her hands up a little with her palms facing the sky, a smile of pure bliss on her features. Her clothes clung to her frame and her golden hair was plastered to her face and neck, but it didn't seem she gave a damn about the weather as she stood motionless in the yard, allowing the rain to soak her through and through.

Finally after a while longer of watching the young woman, I went and stepped out on the porch to try and get her to come in. "Alice, come inside. It's not like the rain's goin' anywhere," I said, getting her to tear her gaze away from the storm clouds overhead to me as I stood on the porch with the door open to allow her entrance into the house. "I'm enjoying myself, Hatter. It feels good," she replied stubbornly, watching me with a sort of look she hasn't given me in the few days she's been here; not a look of hate, but one of pure happiness and contentment. "It's still raining, Cricket. Come inside and dry off," I encouraged, and instead of obliging my request, she offered me her hand and answered with: "Indulge me, would you? Lighten up."

_I can't do that! My makeup will wash off_, I thought to myself, but my thoughts melted when she flashed me an innocent smile and sauntered up to me and took my hat, backing out into the rain and sat it on her head. "My hat..." I said stupidly, momentarily struck dumb by the smile on her face as she crooked a finger at me in a 'come hither' motion, making me go against my better judgment. Stepping out from under the awning of the porch, I moved closer to where she stood with a satisfied smile on her face that I obeyed her whims of joining her in the rain. "Isn't that better, Brian?" she asked, coming closer to me than she would've let me be to her earlier today. I watched her warily as she leaned in closer to press her cheek to my shoulder and look up at me with a grin.

"I know what you're doing. You want me to let my guard down just so you can drug me with chloroform," I said menacingly, looking down at the young lady and instinctively going on the defensive. Alice frowned. "I thought this is how you wanted me to act toward you," she said, pulling away from me to see my face better. "I do, Alice! But after you threatened my masculinity and the immediate removal of whatever part of my body touches your's and suddenly you wanna hop in bed and cuddle with me, I find it... odd," I exclaimed, frowning slightly as Alice tilted her head to the side with a sort of surprised look on her face. Catching on to what she was staring at, I sprinted into the house and slammed the door to my room shut behind me.

Moving for the mirror in the corner of the room, I stood in a stupor at seeing tan skin peeking out from underneath the makeup that had washed away from the rain. For curiosity's sake, I left the mirror for the bathroom adjoined to my room and grabbed a washrag. Locking the door leading into the hallway to make sure I wouldn't be walked in on, I ran hot water over the rag and put it to my face to remove what makeup didn't run when I was outside with Alice.

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**Author's Note: Normally I wouldn't do this, but I didn't want this to be as long as the Tea Party Horrors chapter, so now you're stuck with a cliff hanger. Oh yeah, I went there. Like I said at the beginning of the chapter, leave me a review, please!**


	8. Chapter 4: Mark of the Hatter, Part 2

**Author's Note: Part two for Mark of the Hatter is up! We finally get to see more plot twists and maybe a bit of Alice/Hatter fluffiness. Maybe. ^_^ And again, the reasons that this is rated T surfaces for the same things like chapter three was.**

**Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Please?**

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Chapter Four: Mark of the Hatter, Part Two

(Forty minutes later)

"Hatter, you've been in there for forty minutes now and I think it's high time you stopped hogging the bathroom and come out," Jack cried, banging on the door. "Go away, Jack. If you need to use it, use the other bathroom," Hatter mumbled through the wood, prompting Jack to gawk at the door and shout, "There is no other bathroom, you twit!" "Do it in the bush," was Hatter's reply.

Having watched the exchange for the past ten minutes, I finally got up and approached the door Jack has been banging on and whispered, "Try that one there." Glancing in the indicated direction of the door to the left, Jack's eyes lit up in realization and went for it, getting rewarded with the sound of running feet on the other side and the door slammed shut. "Hatter, open the damn door!" the rabbit-boy grunted, throwing all his weight at the door.

"Alice, look at what I found!" Chip whispered, offering up a familiar little bronze key. "Must've fallen out of his pocket," I mused, taking it and sticking it into the keyhole, smiling in triumph when it unlocked with a soft _click_ and walked in. "Hatter, you're being such a little girl!" I sighed, turning to look in the bedroom adjoined to it and gaped at finding a platinum blonde pressing himself against the door to keep Jack from entering. I took the in scene with interest and curiosity from wet clothes hastily deposited all on the floor and dry clothes strewn out over the bed to the unknown youth in the Mad Hatter's bedroom to the open window letting the rain come pouring inside.

"Who the hell are you?" I finally asked him. The question clearly startled him as he jolted and let out a shout of surprise and looked to me with bright green eyes full of embarrassment of me catching him. "Alice?!" he asked, shouting again as Jack burst through the door, sending the other teen sprawling across the floor. "You know me?" I asked, surprised at the unnamed young man as he picked himself up and tried to hide his blush and failed miserably, though I found it rather adorable as he scrambled to hide his face.

"Why are you so surprised? Everyone in Wonderland knows your name, either from meeting you themselves or hearing it in stories from when you visited this place frequently," he replied, peering at me from over the blanket he yanked off the Hatter's bed to hide himself. "Who are you and where's Hatter?" I questioned him, keeping an eye trained on him while I busied myself with shutting the window and mopping up the water with towels from the bathroom.

"My name?" he echoed stupidly, dropping the blanket onto the floor to watch me better.

"Yes, stupid, your name. You gonna tell it to me or what?" I replied, nodding my head in confirmation of what I want.

"Where is- what are you-?! My name is... Ryan," he replied, scrambling for an explanation. I raised an eyebrow questioningly, not at all convinced with the young man's answer, but let it slide for now.

"When did you get here?" Jack asked him, crossing his arms in skepticism. Ryan jerked his head to the window and said, "The room was empty, the window was open, so I kinda just crawled in. I don't like being wet." "You're telling me that Hatter decided to go streaking through the woods in the rain? It's cold out there! He's going to freeze his nuts off if he ain't careful," I asked, looking out the window to the trees surrounding the house. "I wouldn't know what he's doing; he wasn't here when I arrived. I just didn't wanna get caught in here," he said, shrugging.

"Crazy bastard. I guess Hatter will return when he's ready to," I said, shaking my head and turned to leave. "You guys coming?" I asked, looking back at the boys to find they weren't paying attention to me, but rather, more interested in staring the other down.

"Boys!" I sighed, continuing on my trek out of the room to leave the boys behind with whatever it is they're doing.

(Jack's POV)

Glancing over my shoulder to make sure she was really gone, I looked back to the platinum blonde before me and fumbled for words, but the only thing I could think to say was: "How?"

"Why else do you think I don't want to get wet? The makeup runs easily and the pink hair dye wasn't permanent, you know," he replied helplessly.

"So you're going to lie to her and say you're not who you really are?" I asked him, already not liking what had transpired. "Jack, I want her to like me, but she hates who I am! What other choice do I have?" he shot back, keeping his voice low to keep Alice from coming back to investigate. "You could always look the way she's used to you looking and act like someone who really cares for her wellbeing. If you keep demeaning her, she'll continue to hate you. I'm sorry, man, but that's the truth," I said, shaking my head at him.

"Don't tell her, Jack. Not yet. At least let me figure a way to tell her myself?" Brian pleaded, sighing in relief when I conceded his request with a warning of: "Fine, you'll get the time you need to figure this out, but know this: I'm not okay with what you're doing. None of it. If I see you hurt her, there _will_ be hell to pay! You feel me?"

"I understand," he said softly, leaving the conversation at that as he left the room.

(Hatter's POV)

Stepping out of the hallway into the living room, I smiled in triumph seeing the door to Alice's room is slightly ajar and slipped inside. The first thing I noticed was that Alice had dragged a chair from the living room into the room and positioned it in front of the window and had Chip sitting in her lap, both asleep. Peering around the back of the chair at the blonde, I smiled softly at the calm expression on her face and reached over to brush stray bits of hair from her face and jumped when her blue eyes opened and looked up at me with incredulousness and curiosity.

"Let's go, Alice," I whispered, smiling in encouragement in hopes of her obliging.

"Go where? What time is it?" she asked, yawning and shifting Chip's weight on her lap.

"Wherever you want to, of course! Wonderland isn't called 'Wonderland' for lack of a better name for it. All you have to do is come and let me show you," I said happily, keeping my voice low to ensure I won't wake the slumbering child in her embrace. Alice narrowed her eyes in thought, possibly weighing her options before smiling.

"I knew you couldn't resist!" I cheered quietly, taking the child in my arms and walking him to his room on the opposite side of the living room. Laying Chip down, I pulled the covers over his small frame and quickly left the room, ready to leave before Alice changes her mind.

"Ready to go?" I whispered, holding the door open for her as she walked past into the cool air outside. "I'm ready, but the Hatter said..." she trailed off, frowning as she looked down at her hands. "Forget what he said. You're a person, are you not? He doesn't own you," I interjected, taking her hand in mine and guided her away from the house toward the path leading out of the clearing.

(Alice's POV)

We walked in silence for some time before bright lights shone in the distance and eagerly pointed it out asking, "What is that?" Pausing to look in the indicated direction, Ryan smiled and replied, "That's the Pool of Tears. For some reason, this is the only part of Wonderland that gives off its own natural light after dark unlike the cities and towns with their equally bright lights and such." "Can we go see it?" I asked hopefully, lightly tugging on his hand to get him to start walking again.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," he said, smiling as he guided us to the clearing. Stepping into the open space, my jaw dropped in awe of the scene before me. When Ryan said everything here gave off its own light, he wasn't kidding. Everything from the grass and the trees to the flowers and the moon's reflection in the pool was breathtaking and glowed vibrant colors that drew me in like a moth to a flame.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked me, a satisfied tone coming to his voice as he watched me take in the sights.

"Yeah," I breathed, moving to the edge of the lake and dipped my feet in the water. Ryan didn't say anything more, merely coming to my side and stood in the still water with me, the both of us lost in our thoughts.

Watching him out of the corner of my eye, he bent down and picked at a small blue flower and handed it to me. "For you," he said bashfully, his face turning bright red when I took it and reached up to kiss his cheek. "That's for you," I said cheerily, amused at how easily this boy could be made embarrassed over something a boy from my world would think nothing of.

"Hey, you know what? It's getting pretty late. My dad is probably wondering where I'm at," Ryan said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly when I pouted a little. "Will I get to see you again?" I asked him and was rewarded with a rosy color coming to his cheeks. "Is that your way of saying 'yes'?" I giggled, thoroughly enjoying watching the young man flounder for words before mumbling what I thought must have been a 'yes' and watched him go, disappearing from sight moments later.

I stayed a while longer, knowing it wouldn't make any difference if I stayed or went on back to the Hatter's home.

(Hatter's POV)

Looking into my reflection intently, I tried to figure if Alice was living up to the myths about blondes being stupid, if she knows who Ryan really is and playing along with the charade, or if she truly doesn't know she saw me without my makeup on. I could feel myself slipping back into my madness as the makeup was applied and I hoped to God that Alice wouldn't choose that moment to walk in and find me, knowing my dark façade would surface the moment the young woman came around. Moving into the living room, I thought over places she would probably like to see while I waited for the blonde to arrive.

Jumping in my seat, I looked up as the door opened and closed, the only light I had to see the intruder came from the moon, the dim light pouring in through the window and illuminating her figure flatteringly. I took a moment to take her in and smiled at catching sight of the glowing flower from the Pool of Tears tucked behind her ear before getting up and turning on the lamp on the table situated near the couch, temporarily stunning us both.

"Where have you been?" I asked her, feigning irritation with her.

Alice turned red in the face at the question and opened her mouth to respond but closed it again. She kept on this a few time before indignation kicked in and she snapped, "It's none of your business!" I clicked my tongue at her and crossed my arms. "You realize if we were in your world, you'd be expected to come back by now," I said condescendingly and Alice responded by looking as if she were about to explode in anger and shouted, "It would go for you, too! Where did you disappear to, then? Did you go running through the woods buck ass naked 'cause you felt like it?!" With that, she pivoted on a heel and stormed off to her room, slamming the door hard enough to make the surrounding things shudder in their places on the table and walls. I winced and turned to leave for my room only to jump at Jack's sudden appearance.

"Yes, Brian, where were you? Not out somewhere hurting our guest, I hope," Jack said with mock interest, a dark tone underlined his question. "I was out with Alice exploring the Pool of Tears after dark. You got any idea where she got the idea of me deciding to go streaking in the rain?" I said, running my hand through my hair as I walked past him to my room, fully aware he won't let this go until I give him the full details.

"You threw your wet clothes on the floor and your window was open. She doesn't recognize you without the makeup," he replied, following me into my room. "Ah. I must've not been paying attention when she said that," I sighed, taking a seat on the bed.

"Dude, she called you a crazy bastard. You usually snap to attention when you're called a name like that," Jack said, cocking his head to the side in curiosity. I shrugged. "I suppose I was caught up trying to hide my face when she walked in on me," I sighed, watching my friend's face to try and gauge his reactions. He shook his head.

"Brian, I mean it. If you hurt her in any way, I _will_ kick your ass," he said warningly, leaving with those words as he shut the door behind him.

"If I hurt her further than I already have, Jack, you have every right considering what I've already done. I can't stop myself when I do. At the Pool of Tears tonight with Alice... that is the sanest I've felt in a very long time... I want to feel like that again," I murmured, knowing full well Jack heard me.

(Alice's POV)

Lying in bed staring up at the ceiling, I fumed at the Hatter's condescending attitude towards me when he's been gone the entire day since it started raining while I was gone for maybe a couple hours and he berates me like a mother would when she catches her child sneaking a cookie before dinner.

_That man doesn't own me! He has no right to tell me what I can and can't do!_ I thought furiously, crossing my arms over my chest and tried to calm my nerves with thinking on my little escapade with Ryan and blushed, reaching for my ear and gently tugging free the little blue flower from my hair to set it in a glass of water sitting on the nightstand.

Jumping slightly, I glanced around the dark room groggily and figured I must've fallen asleep without realizing it. A look at the clock mounted on the wall informed me it's one in the morning and settled down to go back to sleep when a clinking sound alerted me to anther's presence and caught sight of a semi familiar face out the window, beckoning me to come out to him.

_What in the world...?_ I thought sleepily, rubbing at my eyes and lazily pushed myself out of bed to see what was going on.

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**Author's Note: The new guy is Hatter? Hatter's the new guy? And Alice is falling for him?! Oh, the insanity!**

**Leave me a comment to let me know how I'm doing, please!**


	9. Chapter 5: The White Rabbit

**Author's Note: Sorry it's a bit short, but I had to have a little something with the White Rabbit and Alice together for the first time since his brief appearances in chapters one (when he showed up as a rabbit) and two when he came to take Alice to Wonderland.**

**I thrive on likes and reviews, so leave me a comment, please!**

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Chapter Five: The White Rabbit Confronts Alice

"Nice night, isn't it, Alice?" the rabbit-boy asked, watching me from his seat at the table as I quietly closed the door behind me and joined him in the yard.

"Who are you?" I asked, coming to take a seat beside him.

"My name's White, but you referred to me as Mr. Rabbit when you were little," he replied, leaning forward in his seat to scrutinize me in the light of the moon before commenting, "I can see why the Hatter would be so possessive of you. You became quite the beautiful woman. Any man would kill to have a girl like you to call their own." I blushed, sensing he was being perfectly honest and sincere with me.

"You must have something pretty important to tell me if you wake me up at one in the morning," I stated, trying rid my cheeks of their rosy tint. "You must be really stupid to fall for what that boy was telling you," he countered casually, getting me to scowl and say, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that boy you were with earlier tonight isn't who he says he is, Alice. If you wish to keep going around him, be on your guard and listen carefully to his voice, see if you think it sounds familiar to you," he clarified. "Wait, you were _spying_ on me? You ever hear of privacy?" I asked incredulously, that rosy color returning to my cheeks. "In Wonderland, there's no privacy outside. There's eyes everywhere. You forget that plants in Wonderland are sentient and spread information like a wildfire," he said casually, watching me intently.

"Look, this is a little gift from the Queen of Hearts. She thinks it would help jog your memories of your past visits here," he said, reaching into his pocket to retrieve a vial and give it to me before I could berate him for admitting to stalking me. Accepting the vial, I inspected the glowing green substance within suspiciously and asked, "What is it?"

"We don't have a name for it, but it does help," he replied, getting up to leave.

"Where are you going?" I asked, getting up to follow after him.

"I'm going back to the castle, naturally. You should go back inside and go on to bed, Alice. Oh, be sure to ask the Hatter why a raven is like a writing desk when you see him later when he wakes up," he said, leaving me with that as he walked away.

I quirked an eyebrow at the young man in curiosity, but did as he suggested and went back inside the house. Settling myself at the edge of the bed, I fingered the cork holding the liquid in the glass before I uncorked it and knocked it back before I could talk myself out of it. The moment I swallowed, memories flooded my mind from the first time I visited Wonderland to all my frequent visits with Hatter and Jack and all the things the duo did to antagonize me. The two things that came to the forefront of my mind that Hatter did when I was younger was that riddle White requested I ask him later today and his maddening habit of taking my cup away and making me move down the length of the table. My retaliation to that was stealing his hat and playing keep away as he chased me to get it back.

The memories of Hatter acting like an older brother made me smile but that smile soon turned to a frown at recent memories of him torturing me with a branding iron and demeaning me like I have no significance whatsoever. But White's request soon surfaced again and made me wonder why the rabbit-boy would want me to ask him such a thing and if the Hatter would recall such a riddle if he remembers it at all. _I guess I'll find out later_, I thought, crawling under the covers and falling asleep moments later.


	10. Flashback: Face Paint

**Author's Note: You know how I said these little nothings will all be about Alice as a kid and they'll go back and forth between Hatter and Alice telling the story? I take that back. This particular flashback is dedicated to the Mad Hatter and how his… unique appearance came about (basically, the Hatter's back story and a sort of prologue to the prologue of the first chapter of "**_**Nightmares in Wonderland**_**") and this time, it will be hurt/comfort and will not alternate between Alice's and the Hatter's POV's, instead going between Jack and Hatter. Sorry this isn't cute or fluffy like the last two flashbacks, but the next one to come will be back to how the others were written. :)**

**I work hard on this, so leave me a review and let me know what you'd like to see from these things! Enjoy! **

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_Flashback: Face Paint_

"Ugh!" I shouted, hitting the counter as I stumbled backwards from the blow delivered to me face. "Get out of my sight, you damn worthless waste of space!" my father shouted, glaring down at me before storming out of the room. Dazed and disoriented from the blow to my face and head, I staggered to my feet and clumsily made a beeline for the door before he could come back to finish the job.

Staying on my own two feet proved to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be as I finally stopped running altogether and sat down, cradling my head in my hands. "I have to get out of here!" I whispered to myself, taking my time in looking over the damage dealt to my body. My arms and torso were bruised pretty badly and my right leg sported a gash from my knee to a few inches above my ankle. My left eye is blackened and my lip is busted, joining the other minor cuts and gashes I received from the beating. Knowing Dad would come to find me, I started limping in the direction of my friend's house, hoping to get help.

It was well past dark when I reached Jack's home and wasted no time in knocking on the door as hard as I could to gain the attention of the family within. The door swung open unexpectedly, causing me to tumble onto the floor in an unceremonious heap and further injuring myself by landing on my arm and knees.

"Brian! What happened to you?!" Jack's sister, Jane, cried, shocked at my sudden appearance where the door had been moments before. "Don't ask questions now," I moaned, allowing myself to be lifted and carried to one of the many rooms in the household by Jack's father to have my wounds taken care of.

As the night wore on, I laid in the bed listening to the conversation of the Rabbit family in the living room, keeping hushed voices to try and insure I wouldn't hear them. "Mark, we have to do something! Brian's made many appearances with bruises and the like before, but never like this," Julianna, Jack's mom, whispered worriedly. "Julie, you can't make the boy speak if he doesn't want to. Though he doesn't say it out loud, I suspect it's abuse," Mark answered her, making me wince at the word 'abuse', knowing he hit the nail on the head. "What do we do about it, though? Brian may not want us to get involved with it and give him time to figure a way through it on his own," Jack's voice chimed in. "That as it may, the circumstances alone is enough to drive one mad aside from your friend's trade as a hatter," his father replied.

It was a good few minutes later that the conversation they were having ended and I jumped at the sound of someone knocking n the door and relaxed when Jack let himself in. "You wanna talk about it?" he questioned. "Jack, the reason I don't tell you what happened is because I don't want you know what happened, okay? It's bad enough I went through it, it'd be worse if you knew," I sighed, looking away from him.

"You can tell me anything, Brian. You're my best friend and friends look out for each other, right?" he said, leaving me with those words as he left the room, knowing he would have better luck winning a staring contest with a cup of tea.

Waking up before the sun had risen, I clambered out of bed and quietly opened the window and crawled out, headed for the city, knowing if I stayed my father would show up to take me back home with him kicking and screaming. That was one of the least savory things that could possibly happen to me at his hands as I hobbled along the path that led into the city.

Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months as I made myself scarce and resorted to my father's scare tactics and intimidation. In the times that I had gone underground, my one platinum colored hair turned pink, my face is now a deathly white outlined in heavy black makeup, and my eyes had gone from a dazzling shade of emerald to a disturbing bright yellow. All other color that made up my clothes had faded to black and white with yellow trimming. Normally I would've been terrified at the lack of color, but I was too numb to care and accepted the change.

(Jack's POV)

"Excuse me, have you seen our friend?" I asked, stopping a man to show him Brian's picture. At the shake of his head, I thanked him anyway and moved on. As I walked along, I became more and more distraught at Brian's disappearance and looked to my companion in concern, hoping someone would tell us they've seen him.

"Come on, Jack, the guy's only been under the radar for a couple months. He's a big boy, if he wanted us to come find him, he would've told us," Johnny said, taking a seat on the bench to rest a while. "Johnny boy, I doubt if you ran away after coming to someone for help they would shrug it off and wait for you to say, 'I need your help again'," I replied, shaking my head at him.

"You see that?"

"Huh? What?" I mumbled, getting snapped out of my thoughts.

"Ain't that Brian's top hat?" Johnny asked, getting out of his seat to follow it. Not knowing much else to do but follow him, I hoped it was who I thought it was as the hat's wearer dipped in and out of our line of sight as we tailed him.

(Hatter's POV)

Sensing eyes boring into my back, I glanced over my shoulder to see what exactly is invoking that feeling to see Jack and Johnny tailing me and inwardly cursed, not looking forward to the imminent confrontation with the duo.

"Hey, you!" Johnny shouted, the volume of his voice making me pick up my pace and much to my dismay, the duo did, too, and eventually caught up with me.

"Where did you get that?" Jack questioned me, taking my hat off my head and waving it around in my face. "What's it matter to you where I got it? It's mine," I snarked, yanking the hat out of his hands and continued down the street with Jack and Johnny still trailing after me.

"Wait a minute. That voice..." Jack trailed off, stepping in front of me to block my path. Trying to sidestep them, they moved with me, continuing to block my way and after a few more attempts at getting around them, I grew anxious and frustrated with them, sensing Jack's stubborn insistence won't let me leave so easily.

"... Brian? Is that you?"

I froze, wondering if they really did recognize me or if they were just guessing and my silence confirmed their suspicion. "What happened to you?" Johnny asked, eyes wide with disbelief as he looked me over. I looked away, feeling embarrassed for the first time in a while and shrugged my shoulders helplessly, unable to do much else.

Days passed since my friends had found me out and seeing as they wouldn't be able to get me to go back to my father, the three of us went and built me a new home some distance from the city in the woods surrounding it and the Pool of Tears. The only thing interesting that happened since the completion of the house was the tea party in my front yard and my fight with Time and his punishment by making it six o' clock 24/7 for me and the others. Not that I didn't mind it.

Taking a seat at the head of the table, I sighed and poured myself a fresh cup of tea, but didn't drink it, knowing in a few minutes Jack or Johnny would scream they needed a clean cup and make me move again. I jumped at the sudden start of a song and scowled at the rabbit-boy who started it as he sang (it seems more like shouting than singing to my ears) and rolled my eyes, a loud groan escaping me when Johnny joined in. After twenty minutes of listening to the other boys' singing, it seemed like it would never end, propping my elbow on the table and rested my chin in my hand, starting to doze off until a soft voice called out, "H-hello?"


	11. Chapter 6: Ravens and Writing Desks

**Author's Note: I'm back with another chapter! You guys know I work hard on this, so leave me a review and let me know what you think! Oh, this time, there's a flashback in this chapter and Alice finds out who Ryan really is! :D Enjoy! Sorry it's so freaking long. I didn't mean for it to get like this, but I just couldn't stop myself! :)**

**Disclaimer: I must say that any and all songs I bring up in this chapter belong to their respective owners before I forget to give them credit. :)**

**Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Please?**

* * *

Chapter Six: Ravens, Writing Desks, and Hidden Revelations

Waking up hours later, I lazily rolled out of bed and stretched myself out. Just as I started brushing the tangles out of my hair, the door swung open to reveal the Hatter and scowled.

"You ever heard of knocking before entering a room? I could've been changing!" I said moodily, looking back to the mirror as I went over my morning routine.

"You ever heard of this place being my house? I have an all-access pass to any room I want," he said with equal grumpiness, letting out a yawn and walked further into the room.

"It's still polite to knock before entering a room, Hatter," I replied, turning to leave the room.

"Hey, don't walk away from me!" he said dangerously, taking hold of my arm and forcefully turning me around to look at him. "If you want to eat or go anywhere today, you better listen to me!" "I'm not going _anywhere_ with you! You're a kidnapper, a murderer, and a pervert that thinks he _owns_ me! You don't _own_ me, Hatter, and you _never_ will!" I shouted back, wrenching my arm out of his grasp. With that, I stormed out of the room and into the kitchen to find Jack and Chip in the middle of putting food on plates.

"What's all the yelling about?" Chip asked innocently, watching with curiosity as he handed me a plate which was promptly taken out of my hands by Hatter as he took up a second and turned back to go into the front yard. I scowled at this, and growled under my breath and looked back to face the questioning look on Jack's face.

"The Hatter says I'm a bad girl and can't eat anything today because I tried to walk away from him," I said grouchily, fingering the handle of a knife sitting on the table.

"There's no need to kill him, Alice," Jack said, gently removing the weapon from my grasp. "I've been keeping an eye on him and I promise you if he does anything to harm you, I will beat the hell out of him," the rabbit-boy swore, guiding me out of the house to join Hatter at the table.

Sitting me down to his right, I glared at the pink haired young man as he ate, getting him to pause and look up at me.

"What?"

"Give me a plate, Hatter," I demanded, reaching over to take one, but quickly retracted my hand when he slapped it.

"Brian, give her a plate. She's hungry and she needs to eat," Jack said, grabbing one before Hatter could respond and handed it to me. I mouthed a thank you before he sent me back into the house so I wouldn't be disturbed by the hatmaker while I ate.

"Run along, little princess," Hatter's voice mumbled, getting me to quicken my pace into the house and head straight for the kitchen. Taking up the knife that Jack had taken away, I dropped off my plate in the guestroom and went back outside. Jack and Chip caught sight of me, but pretended I never returned, opting to watch from out of the corner of their eyes. Launching the knife with deadly accuracy, the blade embedded itself up to the hilt in the back of the chair, prompting everything to go dead quiet as all eyes looked at the chair the Hatter occupied. After what felt like eternity, the chair moved as it was pulled away from the table at an odd angle to reveal the Hatter unharmed, but his face showed visible signs of astonishment with the tip of the knife mere centimeters from his head and commented, "Any closer and that would've turned into something ugly real quick." He said this with utter calmness for someone who just about had a knife sticking out of the back of their head.

"Who's the princess now, punk?!" I exclaimed, pivoting smartly on a heel and went back inside, leaving three dumbstruck boys in my wake.

(Hatter's POV)

"That girl... is crazy!" I said finally, turning to look at the other two boys eyeballing the hilt of the weapon sticking out of my chair.

"I'm glad that didn't kill you, man, or else I'd be dealing with a traumatized eight year old," Jack said before adding, "To be honest, you kinda had that coming for you after all you put that girl through."

Pulling the knife out of the seat- "I'm just gonna put it back in the kitchen!"- I headed inside to deal with Alice.

Standing outside her door, I sensed she already knew I was here as she muttered "Go away, Hatter." before I could make my presence known to her. "How did you even know I was out here?" I asked her, shaking my head in mild bafflement of the young woman.

"I heard your footsteps when you came in," she replied.

"Alice-"

"Hatter, can I ask can I ask you a question?"

"... You already asked me a question, but feel free to ask another, if you'd like," I said, getting rewarded with a giggle, something I haven't heard from her since she started thinking my name is Ryan without my makeup on. It was such a beautiful sound coming from her that brought a smile to my face without knowing it.

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

"..."

"Hatter? You still there?"

"..."

Without another word, I pivoted on a heel and walked back outside and took a seat at the table, a look of surprise and bewilderment as I thought over the innocent question. "Why is a raven like a writing desk? ... She actually remembers that?" I mused, jumping when Chip crawled into my lap and asked, "I dunno, Hatter. What's the answer?"

I smiled. "I haven't the foggiest idea," I replied, a laugh escaping me at the pout I received as a response.

"That's not an answer!" Chip complained, his pout turning to a glare when I burst out laughing, memories of a seven year old Alice reprimanding me when I would tell her the riddle had no answer to it coming to surface. This, however, me laugh all the more harder until tears were flowing down my cheeks in mirth, my laugh making Jack double over in laughter as well, but I couldn't be sure if he was laughing at the same thing as I was or not.

(Alice's POV)

"Hatter? You still there?" I questioned softly and listened to his retreating footsteps and the door opening and closing, signaling the hatmaker had left.

"I wonder what that was about," I murmured, jumping when Chip's voice cried, "That's not an answer!" This was met with loud laughter, but it wasn't insane in any way, just a pure and simple happy laugh which was joined by a second coming from the table out front. I couldn't help but laugh along with them, sensing the Hatter was the one to start the laughing fit in the yard. His laugh is contagious.

Opening the door, I slipped out and walked outside to find a grumpy Chip with a scowl etched across his adorable features while the older boys laughed, happy tears streaming freely down their faces as they clutched their aching sides and gasped for air from laughing so hard. I watched with high amusement as the boys slowly started coming around.

"Hoo boy, that was funny! I haven't laughed that hard in a while," the Hatter chuckled, wiping at his eyes and looked to his companion to see he passed out from his fit. I smiled knowingly and brought Chip into a hug, saying, "I know how you feel, sweetheart. The Hatter _tortured_ me with that riddle when I was seven. He thought it was a riot when I got mad because he kept telling me he didn't know the answer, but listening to him say he hasn't a clue, he sounds like he damn well knows the answer, doesn't he?" Glancing up at him, I shot Hatter a dirty look that said '_don't think I don't now what you're doing_' before looking back to Chip who seemed to have lightened up at the knowledge of not being the only one that didn't know the answer to the riddle, but still bummed out over it.

"You actually remember that riddle?" the Hatter asked, a hint of astonishment in his voice.

"Really, White paid me a visit early this morning and gave me a vial of something that helped me remember my past visits. You're not the same man from my memories of this place, Hatter, because you treated me like I mattered and now you reduced me to nothing more than an object you can take your anger out on," I said, a dangerous tone coming to my voice as those memories of a childlike Hatter came to the forefront of my mind. That said, I took the child's hand and guided him back inside.

Sitting the child down at the table I rummaged through the cabinets and exclaimed in delight at finding a cluster of empty jars and said, "Chip, would you be a dear and find a bag to put these in?"

"Sure, but what do you need jars for?" he replied, getting up to find a bag.

"I'm going to take you to a place the Hatter showed me when I was your age and we'll need jars to collect souvenirs," I replied happily, smiling when Chip returned with a messenger bag. "Great! You ready to go?" I said, laughing lightly when he bounced around, shouting in excitement before running for the door, calling out, "Can Hatter and Jack come, too?"

"They can if they want," I replied, jogging out the door after the eager child where he waited at the edge of the clearing.

"Where are you guys going?" Jack shouted after us.

"We're going on an adventure!" Chip screamed happily, getting me to laugh at his enthusiasm.

"This I gotta see," he said, getting up to follow with Hatter in tow, joining us before Chip grabbed my hand and dragged me down the path.

After a long while of walking, we finally made it to a meadow occupied by rocks of all sizes, each shining brightly with different colors of the rainbow like the Pool of Tears after dark. Watching as Chip ran ahead of us in his excitement, I smiled, now knowing why the Hatter was so eager to take me places when I was little.

"Was I like that when I was seven?" I questioned him, laughing when he replied with, "Oh yes. You were curious to see all Wonderland had to offer and when I took you somewhere, well, Chip's in your position and you're in mine."

Walking further into the field, I glanced around for the eight year old before spying him on his hands and knees staring wide eyed at something on the ground. Crouching down next to the mouse-child, I asked, "What are you looking at?"

"A rock," he replied enthusiastically, holding it up for me to see.

"That's lovely, Chip. Here, why don't you go and collect the best ones you can find and I'll show you a nifty little craft Hatter showed me when I was your age?" I said, reaching in the bag and handed him a couple jars before sending him off.

"Don't tell me you remember how to make beads and charms out of these, do you?" Hatter asked, crouching down beside me. "Okay, then, I won't say I do. I've even taught my friends and parents what you taught me and it's needless to say they were all impressed," I replied, nudging him with my elbow playfully. With that, I got up and handed him and Jack a couple jars and set off to start my collection of rainbow colored rocks.

As I collected the stones, I thought back to the first time the Hatter brought me here and smiled, briefly wondering what happened to the Hatter from my memories.

(_Flashback: Rocks and Rainbows_)

"Mr. Hatter, why are the rocks changing colors like that?" I asked, pointing to a cluster of large boulders, each shining brightly and seemed to change colors of their own accord. Looking in the direction I indicated, the teen shrugged and said, "I dunno, Cricket. This place is one of the natural wonders of Wonderland. Who's to say how it happens?"

"Do you suppose a rainbow got stuck in there?" I asked, watching in curiosity as the older boy picked up a rock and started to where the larger ones sat and began climbing them.

"What are you doing, Mr. Hatter?" I questioned, starting to make my way to where he stood high atop the rocks.

"Stay over there, Cricket. It gets pretty messy when you do this," he said, waving me away before throwing the rock to the ground, the stone making a loud cracking sound when it hit and bright colors came spurting out of it and into the sky.

"Do it again!" I cheered, clapping my hands together in approval and excitement. He smiled.

"I knew you'd like that. Check this out," he said, jumping back down to the ground and took up another stone and pulled out a hatpin from seemingly out of nowhere. Taking a seat in the grass next to him, I observed as he drew imaginary lines across various points on the rock with the needle's tip before poking it and sending the pin all the way through. "And now you have a rainbow colored bead," he said, sliding it off the needle to hand to me.

"It's pretty!" I exclaimed, looking up at him.

"You wanna give it a try?" he asked, pulling out another hatpin and handed it to me. Grabbing a nearly pebble, the Hatter took my hand in his larger one and helped me guide the needle to the sensitive spot on stone's surface and slid it through.

"Good job, Cricket. With more practice, you'd be able to make a living off this," he applauded. Looking up in curiosity, I asked, "I could make money by poking rocks with a hatpin, Mr. Hatter?"

"If that's what you'd like to do," he replied, tousling my hair playfully.

"Why don't you do it as a job?"

"I already have a job, Cricket. They don't call me the Mad Hatter for nothing, you know," he replied, offering me a smile.

"Oh, yeah! You get paid to poke fabric with a needle!" I said happily, getting rewarded with a laugh.

(_Now_)

I smiled at the memories, wishing I could feel safe in his presence again like when I was a child. Looking up, I found and met his gaze and scowled, knowing sooner or later I would do or say something that will set him off.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes, mocking the expression on Hatter's face when he's deep in thought and said, "I dunno. Maybe I'm staring at you because I can." That made him bristle in irritation, but he otherwise said nothing, opting to glare at me as I turned my back and continued picking up rocks, ignoring him for the rest of the time we were there until we headed back to his house.

Taking a seat at the table, I took out a rock and a needle and pressed it between different points before it passed through the stone and held it up for the mouse-child's inspection. "There you have it. You wanna try?" I said, offering the needle to him when he nodded and took up a rock to try for himself. I watched intently and clapped my approval when he successfully got the pin through the soft spot on the stone.

"I did it!" he cried happily, showing me his little stone now hanging from the string that had been threaded through the needle to catch the beads.

"Good for you! You got it on your first try!" I applauded, bringing Chip into a lopsided hug. The child beamed in response and we both looked up when the Hatter's laugh reached our ears.

"Too bad I didn't show you how to give them a new shape after threading them," he said, reaching over the table and taking the two rocks before heading to the stove and turned it on. Chip and I followed to watch as he waited for the stones to become hot enough that they almost caught the string on fire and melt off before he took up a knife and began working them into diamond and spade shapes.

"Turn on the water, Alice," he ordered and I quickly did as he bid with him hot on my heels and held them under the water, letting off a loud hiss as the water turned to steam on contact before holding them up to show the finished products.

We waited until he was gone to make more beads with Chip stringing them and me heating them up and sculpting them into new shapes until we had gone through two whole jars full of the rainbow colored rocks.

As I worked on giving the new stone in my hand a new shape, I jumped as the sound of a guitar filled the air, soon followed by other instruments as the music took on a sort of emo rock song and blared loudly from another room in the house._  
_

_Down you fell, deep into your mind_  
_Off to Wonderland, leaving what's real behind_  
_You're a riddle I can't seem to read_  
_Your love a fairytale, too hard to believe_

_Broken and sad as the tarnish on your crown_  
_Nowhere to go but down_  
_Caught up in yourself, nowhere to be found_  
_No other way but down_

_Down, down, down_  
_Down, down, down_

_Say your farewell to what's real_  
_Like the pain that you feel_  
_Welcome to Wonderland (It's dead)_

_Eat me or drink me_  
_Seeing is believing_  
_Wonderland, baby,_  
_Is all in your head_

I smirked a little at the last line, muttering to myself, "How I wish it were." I continued to work, listening raptly to the song as it played and started up again when it reached the end.

(Hatter's POV)

Closing and locking the door to my room behind me, I turned on the radio sitting in the corner of the room and smiled satisfactorily as the opening of "_Where's My Wonderland?_" played and turned the volume up enough to the point that I knew Jack would be able to hear it from the edge of the clearing or even well beyond here. Pressing the repeat button on the top of the music player, I headed for the bathroom and locked the door to ensure no one would walk in on me as I removed the makeup and dye from my hair.

I stared at my reflection with interest as my tan skin was revealed from under the white and my hair back to its natural color. I briefly thought about how I would tell Alice that I'm the platinum blonde she found yesterday, but pushed the thought aside, knowing if I told her now, she would want nothing to do with me. _But then again, she already doesn't care to be around me anyway_, I thought, giggling madly to myself as another random thought ran through my mind.

Unlocking the door, I went back into the room and laid down on the bed to listen to the music, eventually falling asleep with the music still blaring from the speakers.

Jolting awake after some time, I sat up and caught a glimpse in the mirror and reminded myself of removing the makeup and headed for the kitchen to find Alice and Chip hard at work with the rocks we collected earlier that day and wondered if they ever stopped since I left.

"How long have you two been going on like this?" I questioned them, leaning against the doorpost for support.

The two jumped and looked up to meet my gaze, clearly surprised to see me interrupting their tasks. "What time is it? ... I think it's been a good few hours or so..." she replied, shrugging, dipping the blade under the water and splashed some of it on her face to cool herself off from standing over the stove for so long.

"Did you ever stop for a break? Even once?" I pressed, fascinated at her dedication to any task she's given. The blonde shook her head.

"We've been at it long enough to fill two jars with the beads we made. Ain't that right, my little helper?" she replied, looking to Chip sitting at the table watching the contents of the jars with wonder at the changing colors.

"Where did you get that? Do you realize how hard it is to get those things?" I asked with utter astonishment even though I know exactly where they came from.

"What, the beads? We made them," she replied, quirking an eyebrow in questioning.

"Yes, the beads! You realize that if you were to sell them, arts and crafts stores would pay handsomely for them," I said, nodding enthusiastically.

"Really? I don't see how they could be so hard to find. They're not hard to make," Chip said, joining the conversation.

"While people know how to make beads like that, there's only a small handful of people that can successfully make them without getting messy," I answered, getting the duo to look between each other and back to me.

"Can we keep some of them, Alice? We worked real hard on them," Chip asked, getting rewarded with a smile and a nod. "Sure we can, kiddo. We worked real hard and we should have a little something to show for our efforts," she replied, leaning over and planting a kiss of the top of the child's head, getting him to go red in the face. I turned red in the face, too, not from embarrassment, but rather, jealousy of the display of affection toward the mouse-child, making me wish I was in his place.

"Hey, you wanna get outta here? Sounds like the Hat Man is occupied for the moment," I said, jerking my head in the direction of my bedroom. The young woman didn't hesitate in accepting my offer before looking to the little one and ordered, "If Hatter asks where I am, you don't have the slightest idea. You got that?" Chip nodded.

Opening the lid of one of the two containers, I dumped out a number of beads for the child and Alice to keep before putting the lid back on it and passed them both to Alice and headed out the door, opting to use the back door instead of being caught by Jack.

After doing business with the local arts and crafts store manager, we left a while later to one of my favorite hotspots before I became a recluse.

(Alice's POV)

Walking into the energetic atmosphere of the establishment Ryan had brought me to, I stayed close behind my friend as he guided me to a table near the stage and sat me down. "What do you think of this place, Alice?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard over the music.

"It's cool. Where did you find out about this place?" I replied.

"I used to come here all the time," he said happily, smiling lightly as everyone paused to look in our direction with utter surprise and excitement before the conversation started up again and the DJ shut off music abruptly before playing another track entirely, this time the song was light and upbeat. What surprised me the most was the singer himself, his voice reminding me of Neil Sedaka.

I quirked my eyebrow at this and asked, "Is that who I think it is?"

"If you're thinking it's Neil Sedaka, you're correct," he replied and added, "There's a lot of singers that are famous in your world that came from here."

"Like who?"

"This guy for one, Kerli, Shinedown, and Lisa Mitchell among others," he replied shrugging, leaning back in his chair bobbing his head in time with the song. "_Alice, Alice in Wonderland_," he sang along before the words even started.

_ Alice, pretty little Alice, pretty little Alice in Wonderland_

_Alice in Wonderland, won't you take me by the hand,_  
_and lead me to your Wonderland of love_

_I took one look at you, and that was all I had to do,_  
_Alice, you're the girl I'm dreamin' of_

_Tweedledum, Tweedledee,_  
_you have made my life a fantasy_  
_You don't know what you're doing to me,_  
_my heart goes pitter patter_  
_'cause I'm mad as a hatter for_

_Alice, my little girl, there is no other in this whole wide world,_  
_take me by the hand, tell me you understand,_  
_Alice, Alice in wonderland_  
_Oh Alice, pretty little Alice, pretty little Alice in Wonderland_

I scowled at this, sensing the next song to play would be about me and Wonderland. And sure enough, with each track the DJ played, every one of them had some reference to me and Wonderland.

"What are you thinking about?" Ryan asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I opened my mouth to respond, but paused as a light melody flitted through the air before kicking it up a few notches and adopted the beat of hip hop music.

_Welcome to the Tea Party_  
_Wanna be my V.I.P.?_  
_Didn't RSVP?_  
_That's okay, that's okay_

I found myself swaying in my seat to the rhythm of the music, smiling to myself as it centered itself around the area my kidnapper lives.

"You seem to be in a good mood. Thinking of someone special?" Ryan teased, getting me to blush and say, "Hell, no! if you think my thoughts are of the Hatter, you got another thing comin'!" This only made my companion laugh and I couldn't help but laugh along with him.

Hours passed before we headed out, the two of us dismayed at having to end the night. As we walked, a scowl formed on my features at what waited for me in the house situated in the center of the clearing, but tried to put on a happy face at being able to escape for a while.

"I had a great time. Maybe you should kidnap me more often," I sighed, smiling at him. The platinum blonde offered a smile back and quirked an eyebrow when I deviated from the path to the door to the side of the house where the window to the guestroom resided.

"Why go through the window when the door is over there?" he questioned me.

"This way I don't get in trouble with the Hatter if he catches me," I explained, opening the window and crawling inside.

"When can I see you again? Think you can sneak out tomorrow night and meet me at the Pool of Tears?" he asked, getting me to think over it a few moments and replied with, "Let's just see if I can get away tomorrow, yeah? If that pink haired weirdo knew I was sneaking out to see you, he'd have a fit!" He laughed and leaned in close to my face until mere inches of air separated our lips while I watched him with my breath caught in my chest as his lips brushed over mine, sending chills up and down my spine in thrill of the gentle touch and blushed. Pulling away, the pink tint to my cheeks turned scarlet at the smug little smile tugging at his mouth and watched as he swaggered out of sight, proud of himself for getting me to blush.

"Cocky boy," I murmured, laughing as he stumbled over his feet a few moments and continued on until he disappeared, acting as though nothing happened to momentarily throw off his footing all the while. Closing the window, I left the room to find the others only to be met with a quiet and empty house other than the radio in Hatter's room still playing the same song as it was when I sneaked out, only the volume had been turned down considerably since it started.

"That's weird. Everyone's gone," I said to myself, peering into the Hatter's room to find it empty along with all the other rooms in the house.

(White's POV)

Tapping my foot impatiently in wait for my guests, I sighed in annoyance when they finally knocked on the door, signaling their arrival.

"It's about time you got here! I've been waiting for an hour," I said, annoyed with the other boy.

"Gimme a break, White. I had to get Chip ready to come along with me since Alice and Hatter sneaked off like a couple of teenagers to avoid watching him," the March Hare snapped, entering the house and dropping off the little one in the living room.

"What else did you expect them to do, Jack? They _are_ teenagers. Now, let's get down to business, shall we? You and I both know about the Hatter prowling around and twisting Alice's emotions and I feel we are in need of a backdoor if this gets out of hand," I said, leading him into the kitchen. Taking a seat across from me at the table, Jack quirked an eyebrow and asked, "You mean go against the Queen's order to keep her here until she instills some sanity in Brian? I'm all for it, actually. I had my doubts when we brought her back to Wonderland, but I'm really doubting it now with the way he's treating her."

"In what ways is that beast treating her, Jack? Tell me," I demanded, my interest piqued.

"He's... slapped her a few times and intimidated her. But she did slap him a couple times, threatened his masculinity, and stomped on his foot. Earlier today, she nearly impaled him with a knife, if that makes you feel any better," he replied halting getting me to go red in the face with anger and hatred for the hatmaker.

"_That_ is where I draw the line! I may get imprisoned for this, but I don't care! We have to get Alice out of Wonderland," I said with finality, slamming a fist on the tabletop.

"Well, we can't use the Rabbit Hole. Chip and I scouted it before we came here and found it's heavily guarded by the Playing Cards, so that's out of the question," Jack said, propping an elbow on the table and resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

"So that leaves us with the Looking Glass, but there's no telling where she'll end up when she passes through it," I said thoughtfully, nodding my head slowly. "You know, White, I don't think Alice gives a damn where she is when she gets back to Aboveland, just so long as she gets out of here," he said. I snorted at his retort and replied with, "The only Looking Glass I know of that takes you straight to wherever you want to go in Aboveland is in the center of the Tulgey Woods."

"You guys ever notice how Hatter is never around to see Ryan when he shows up?"

Looking over Jack's shoulder at the innocent little child, I said, "That's because Ryan _is_ Hatter without his makeup, passing himself off as someone else. Alice is going to be devastated when she finds him out."

"Let's not burst her bubble just yet. Hatter is going to tell her himself but, he can't find the right words," Jack sighed, getting me to turn my attention back to him.

"_You_ told him you'd allow him time to figure out the right words to say. _I_, however, did not," I said smugly, leaning across the table a little bit.

"That's true, but I want to see if she can spot the similarities and put two and two together on her own," Jack said, running a hand through his hair.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance and conceded with, "She has a month to figure it out before I move in, pop her bubble, and take her to the Looking Glass. I trust you'll keep me posted on the goings on in that house?"

"You know I can't keep anything from you, White. You always had a special way of getting stuff out of people," Jack said, concluding our meeting by getting up and leaving the house with Chip in tow.

"I hope to God this doesn't traumatize Alice too badly when she finds out," I murmured, watching the duo's silhouettes disappear into the night.

(Hatter's POV)

Crawling through the window into my bedroom, I couldn't rid my face of the idiotic grin that found its way there from the look on Alice's face at my bold move. _Yeah, I still got it_, I thought smugly, hurrying through putting my makeup on before I could get caught, knowing Alice is in the other room, possibly wondering where everyone is. With one last glance at my reflection to make sure nothing was out of place, I nodded once in approval before going to find Alice.

A quick peek at the door to the guestroom told me Alice is wandering around the house and found her sitting in the kitchen humming a tune to herself in between eating what appears to be cereal.

"What are you doing?" I asked, taking a seat across the table from her. She jumped, apparently having not taken note of my arrival and stared at me a moment, trying to figure how I walked in without her realizing it before jerking her head slightly at a box of cereal sitting beside her. With that, neither of us said anything, just staring at the other, attempting to work out what's going on in each other's heads until I couldn't take the silence anymore.

"That flower of your's is going to die if you don't preserve it soon," I said, getting her to cock her head to the side and asked, "How do you preserve a flower? The only time I've preserved one was when I put it in a jar with resin, but you can't really hold a flower like that now, can you?" I smirked at this and got up to retrieve the little blue flower and presented it to her.

"Watch and learn, Cricket," I said, pulling out a pan and filled it with water before putting on the stove to heat it up. From out of the corner of my eye, I smirked as Alice abandoned her food to watch what I was doing and observed in fascination as the stem and petals turned to crystal.

"That's crazy!" she exclaimed, following me to the sink and drained the pan of the water and ran the now crystallized flower under cold water to help it keep its shape before offering it to her. "A delicate something to last forever," I said, offering her a charming smile. A rosy tint came to her cheeks as she accepted it and mouthed a thank you and turned away, blocking my view of her beautiful smile. I frowned at this, but didn't say anything, knowing if I did she would rebuke me for it.

As we went about our night, Alice eventually left me in the living room to retire for the night, leaving me to my own devices and decided to head out to my workshop not twenty yards from my doorstep. Stepping out into the cool night air, I began picking my way over to the shed like structure, I flipped the switch and stepped inside, briefly taking stock of everything before closing the door behind me.

I don't know how long I worked, but I apparently never noticed I had a visitor in my workspace until they cleared their throat to announce their presence. Turning around in my seat, I scowled and said, "Jack, you know I don't like it when you interrupt me while I'm working!"

My companion pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes challengingly and said, "Yeah? Are you working on a way to tell Alice how you've been lying to her to save your ass from having to tell her that how she found you yesterday is what you look like without makeup? If so, you better tell her before White comes along and tells her himself." I blanched at the mention of the white haired rabbit-boy and asked, "He ain't coming over now, is he? I need time, Jack!"

"Relax, Brian. He ain't coming over, but he will be soon. He told me to tell you he found out about your lying to Alice since our escapades in the city and he understands you need time, so he's giving you a month to figure it out or he'll be the one to burst her bubble, a'ight?" he said, leaving no room for me to respond when he turned and walked out.

"I only get a month to figure this out? I can't possibly get something together in that time! Damn it!" I muttered, shouting the last part to myself before slamming my head down on my worktable.

(Jack's POV)

Knocking lightly on the bedroom door, I waited a moment to see whether or not the room's occupant was asleep or not before it swung open to reveal a sleepy eyed Alice.

"What do you want, Jack?" she asked, yawning loudly and rubbing her eyes.

"It's important I talk to you about it now while Hatter's occupied with other things so he won't hear," I said, clearly piquing her interest as she opened the door wider to allow my entrance into the room.

"What in Wonderland is so important you have to wake me in the middle of the night and make sure the Hatter isn't around to listen, Jackie boy?" she asked, closing the door behind me. I scowled at her nickname for me, sensing whatever White gave her really did help her remember everything before pushing those thoughts aside and said, "I've been talking with White since before and well after you arrived here because we're concerned for you. After a while of convening in secret, we decided, if this gets anymore out of hand than it already is, we're going to help you out of Wonderland." This seemed to wake her up completely and unconsciously rub her hands together, whispering, "But... Hatter said..."

"Forget what he said, Alice. He said those things to you about Wonderland not letting you leave because he branded you just to intimidate you and ensure you stay in his care," I said, cutting her off, getting a glare to appear on her face at being lied to.

"So... I could've left anytime I wanted to and I didn't know it?!" she asked angrily, her glare intensifying as she gazed at her open palms.

"Yes, but you wouldn't have been able to leave the way you came. The Queen of Hearts has the Rabbit Hole well guarded so no one can go in or out of there," I sighed, wincing when she turned hate filled blue eyes on me.

"Jack, I think it's time you left," she said with a forced calm and I did as she bid of me, not having to be told twice, sensing if I stayed it would be a threat to my wellbeing.

"Alice, just don't tell Hatter we spoke and pretend you know nothing. We need to play his game a little longer and White and I'll make our move and get you the hell outta here," I said, getting rewarded with a curt nod from her before I closed the door behind me to leave her alone.

(Chip's POV)

Waking up from my light sleep on the couch, I looked up and watched as Jack left Alice's room, somehow reminding me of the rainbow beads we made earlier today and made my way over to her room.

"Alice? Can I come in?" I questioned softly and the door swung open a few moments later to let me in. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a little drawstring bag I found and opened it to reveal the color changing beads. "We never split them up between us yet," I said, climbing on the bed and dumping them out. "That's okay, shorty. Take the ones you like and I'll take the ones you don't. Sound fair to you?" she said, taking a seat beside me. I shook my head. "I wanna divide them so we got equal amounts, Alice," I said, looking up to meet her gaze.

"Alice? Can I tell you a secret?" I asked her.

She smiled encouragingly and replied, "Sure, Chip. What's on your mind?"

Glancing between her and the door a moment, I leaned in and whispered, "Jack told me I shouldn't tell you, but White says Ryan is Hatter." The older girl cocked her head to the side and asked, "How would you figure that? Hatter ain't the most outgoing teenage boy I've known and he always did have a knack for disappearing and doing something stupid."

"... Well, he's never here when Ryan comes around and Ryan isn't around when Hatter is," I said innocently, getting distracted when she picked up her discarded jeans and pulled a wad of money from out of the pocket.

"I almost forgot to pay you for helping me make the beads, short stuff," she said, offering me half the amount in her hand.

"How much bubblegum can I buy with this?" I asked excitedly, getting her to laugh and say, "You can buy a butt load of gum with that. If that's what you want, I'll take you out to buy some tomorrow." That response only gave me something to look forward to in the morning. Or...

"Can we go now?"

"Chip, I doubt the candy store is open at eleven-thirty at night. I promise I'll take you in the morning."

I pouted at this, but Alice seemed to think it cute and tousled my hair, quickly dividing the beads among us and guided me to my bedroom across the living room.

Tucking me under the blankets, she kissed me on the forehead and bid me goodnight.

"Can I have a kiss goodnight, too, Cricket?"

The question made us jump and look to the doorway where the Hatter stood puckering his lips mockingly and laughed at the glare on Alice's face at seeing him.

"Get out of here, Hatter. I'm not in any mood to put up with you," the blonde snapped, leaving the room and dragging the Hatter out with her. I winced at the look on Alice's face, making me glad I'm not on the receiving end of her fury.

(Alice's POV)

"How long have you been watching us?" I asked, turning on the crazed young man.

He shrugged. "I watched you tuck him in."

"Well, don't follow me around like that! It's creepy!" I said, thoroughly annoyed with him as I turned to go back to my room. Sensing he won't let up for the time being, I rolled my eyes and closed the door in his face before he could enter. This was met by surprised babbling on his part, letting me know he was winding down and about to ready to fall asleep given that he goes into his room and lays down.

"I'm not leaving, Alice, until you do," he said, opening the door to follow me further into the room.

"Until I do what, Hatter?" I asked, turning around to face him.

"Kiss me. I have always admired your passion for everything around you and gracing them with that electrifying smile of yours, so why not me?"

I blushed, knowing he was being completely honest with me. "... You treat me like I'm nothing more than an object you can use to get prestige from others and I don't like it. When I was little, you were like my protective older brother turned psychotic kidnapper. I want to know what happened to the old Hatter I knew and loved so much. Until you find him, leave me alone," I said, putting my hands on his chest and nudged him backwards to the door but he stopped me and gently caught my face in his hands.

"I can change, Cricket. Give me a chance to and I promise you won't regret it," he whispered, leaning in close but his eyes weren't looking into mine, but instead he was looking at my lips. My blush intensified and slowly leaned in closer until our lips met and parted them a moment later. Pulling away further to study his face, his eyes were widened a little and surprised me by backing me into the wall and kissed me again. This time, though, it wasn't gentle, but forceful and passionate.

"Hatter! What are you doing?" I asked, but the question came out as more of a whimper, which only encouraged him as he went to my neck and pinned my hands above my head with one of his own. A shiver rolled up and down my spine and couldn't hold back the moan that escaped me.

"You like that? I should've cornered you like this long before now," he muttered, allowing his free hand to rub my shoulder and slip down until it rested just above the collar of my shirt.

"S-stop it, Hatter! That's enough!" I chastised him, but again, it came out as sounding like a plea and further egged him on.

"Jack!" I cried out, shaking beneath the Hatter's hold as he continued with the torturous administrations of kisses along my jaw and neck.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Jack's voice barked, his rough hands coming down on Hatter as he was shoved away to give me space. The Hare's gaze flicked between me and Hatter before asking, "You alright, there?" I nodded, still shaking from the unbearably close proximity of the Hatter's body to my own and managed to reply, "If you didn't show up when you did, he probably would've raped me. He was getting excited there for a minute." The rabbit-boy nodded once before dragging the hatmaker out of the room and shut the door behind them.

Laying down on the bed, I tried to calm my racing heart from the very recent memory made of Hatter doing what he did to me and this only made me blush and tried to rid my cheeks of their rosy color.

Waking up that morning, one look in the mirror showed me that even though I pushed the memories to the back of my mind, my cheeks still had their color. "Damn. If Hatter sees this, he'll have a field day with it," I said to myself, brushing my hair out and got dressed for the day and headed outside to the tea table.

"Bubblegum!" Chip shouted, getting the other boys to look up and acknowledge my presence. While Jack actually said "good morning", the Hatter greeted me with a smug little grin and made me blush again.

Taking a sat next to him, I jumped when he nudged my leg with his under the table and slapped him. "Knock it off! You had your fun last night," I berated him, quickly eating my breakfast before getting Chip ready to go and buy his promised treat of gum.

"Where are you going?" Jack called after us.

"I promised Chip I'd take him to buy gum with the money he got from helping make the beads yesterday," I called back, laughing when he got up and followed us.

It was an hour or so later that we returned with Chip happily eating his treat and me and Jack eating lollipops with one to spare for Hatter because I'm nice like that.

"We're back!" Jack shouted as we walked into the house.

No response.

"Hatter?" I called, moving ahead to his bedroom and jumped when I caught sight of Ryan outside the window. The platinum blonde noticed me as well and smiled in greeting.

"You wanna get outta here?" he asked me and I nodded, leaving the sweet treat behind on the Hatter's nightstand for him to find whenever he comes back.

"Where are we going this time, hotshot?" I asked, opening the window to talk with him better. He paused and seemed to think it over a moment before he said, "Wherever you like, so long as we do something."

"I don't care. We could go to the Pool of Tears and just hang around. I'd like to try that little trick Hatter showed me to preserve flowers," I replied, slipping out through the window and closed it behind me before chasing after him when he almost left me behind.

"Hey, I have something to give you," he said, stopping me at the edge of the clearing. This got my attention and turned to him and smiled when he pulled a box wooden box no bigger than the size of an awkwardly large jewelry box. "It's a keepsake box so you can keep track of the things you want to remember here," he said happily, beaming when I said, "It's beautiful. Let's get to finding stuff to put in it, shall we?"

Days passed as the two of us continued to sneak away to be together and more little trinkets I found interesting found their way into the keepsake box alongside a small crown of crystallized flowers and the little blue flower Hatter had preserved for me. Before I knew it, a month had already come and gone and I wondered if that was my ignorance of paying attention or if it was because of my constant companion that took me away to make my day just a bit better than it was before.

Opening the window to crawl inside, I jumped when a hand grabbed my shoulder. Turning to face the intruder, I relaxed when I found it was White.

"You scared the hell outta me!" I said irritably, punching him lightly on the shoulder. He laughed at this, but brushed it aside and went back to his stoic self and said, "There's something important I need to talk with you about. It's about your friend."

"Who, Ryan? What about him?" I asked, curious to hear what the white haired rabbit-boy had to say about him.

"You know how when the Hatter disappears, 'Ryan' shows up to take you away? You're really sneaking away with Hatter without his makeup on. If you don't believe me, here's the key to his room. Go find out for yourself," he said, handing over a familiar bronze key and turned to walk away. I scowled at this and continued to crawl through the window and into the house.

"That is _so_ not true!" I said sourly, fingering the key in my hand before the little voice in the back of my head whispered, _What if he's right?_ I shook my head, but went for the bathroom anyway to prove the White Rabbit wrong.

Putting the key in the lock, I carefully opened it and peered inside, my eyes widening in shocked horror at finding Ryan with the Hatter's pink hair and his face partially white from makeup and one emerald eye is now that disturbing yellow I familiarize with the crazed young hatmaker.

"Oh, my God. White was right about him!" I whispered before flinging the door open to make my presence known to him. The sudden movement made him jump and turn around to face me, his eyes wide with surprise.

"A-Alice! When-? What-?" he stuttered, unsure of how to proceed.

"You bastard! I trusted you!" I screeched, slapping him across the face before storming out of the room.

"Cricket, I was going to tell you, I swear! I didn't know how to tell you! I'm sorry!" he called after me, following me, but ducked when I threw a lamp at his head.

"You're a lying bastard that played with my emotions! And to think you _actually_ made me care about you!" I shouted, my voice cracking as I turned away to head inside the bedroom I had been staying in.

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**Author's Note: Again, sorry this is so long. I didn't mean for it to be like this, but I had a lot of ground to cover. Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Please?**


	12. Chapter 7: It's My Life

**Author's Note: This is my first songfic so bear with me. I thought Bon Jovi's "_It's My Life_" would be perfect for this story and what Alice is going through with the Hatter, don't you agree? If you haven't heard it, look this song up on YouTube! It's so freakin' awesome, I got hooked on it! :D**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own the song. That right belongs to Bon Jovi.**

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Chapter Seven: It's My Life

_This ain't a song for the brokenhearted_  
_No silent prayer for the faith departed_  
_And I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd_  
_You're gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud_

Slamming the door shut with unshed tears in my eyes, I locked the door and sat down on the bed, absentmindedly reaching over and grabbing hold of the stuffed rabbit toy sitting on the pillow. "How the hell did my life get so screwed up?!" I asked the toy, allowing the tears I was fighting to fall down my cheeks in sorrow, heartache, and anger of my emotions being played by the Hatter.

"This is never going to happen again," I said defiantly, getting up and taking hold of the backpack I had acquired during my escapades in the city and packed the keepsake box 'Ryan' (Hatter) had gotten for me along with what other small trinkets I got myself and stood up, slinging the bag onto my back and tucked the rabbit under the loose fitting belt hanging from my hips before going to the window and opened it.

_It's my life  
It's now or never  
I ain't gonna live forever  
I just wanna live while I'm alive_

The banging on the door made me pause and look over my shoulder in fear as the Hatter shouted, "Alice! Open the door!" Clambering over the window sill and into the cool night air, I joined with White and Jack waiting for me at the edge of the clearing that contained the Mad Tea Party and wasted no time in running into the woods as the front door swung open to reveal a _very_ angry Mad Hatter as he gave chase after us.

_(It's my life)_  
_My heart is like an open highway_  
_Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"_  
_I just wanna live while I'm alive_  
_'Cause it's my life_

My heart pounded in my chest as I ran through the trees after my companions with barely enough light to see as the sun set over the horizon, making it harder to see with each passing moment as the light dimmed until I was running blindly after them. Though I couldn't see hardly anything, my feet seemed to know exactly where they were carrying me and my body screamed in protest as I exerted what energy I had into running as fast as I could and keeping up with the rabbit-boys ahead of me on the path.

Running feet could be heard from behind me and I pushed myself harder to stay ahead of my pursuer, not wanting to be caught by him and hoping Jack or White would come to my rescue if I was captured by the crazed young man.

_This is for the ones who stood their ground  
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down  
Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake  
Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own breaks_

Making it to the clearing, the first thing I noticed was the giant, out of place mirror that apparently was my way back home, but knew I wouldn't be able to make it to the Looking Glass with Hatter so close behind me. Racing for the nearest form of cover, I dove into the bushes and tried to calm my racing heart and steady my breathing, knowing horrible things would happen if Hatter found me.

As soon as I calmed myself, I watched the entrance the to clearing, knowing the Hatter would try to stop me from leaving. A few moments passed and nothing happened and I took the time to scan the area for the others and caught sight of my companions on the other side of the clearing, hiding in the bushes, waiting for the young man to make an appearance.

_It's my life  
And it's now or never  
I ain't gonna live forever  
I just wanna live while I'm alive_

_(It's my life)  
My heart is like an open highway  
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"  
I just wanna live while I'm alive  
'Cause it's my life_

_You better stand tall_  
_When they're calling you out_  
_Don't bend, don't break_  
_Baby, don't back down_

"Alice! You can't hide from me forever!" the Hatter's angry voice roared, getting me to jump and press a hand to my mouth to suppress a yelp of surprise. I watched as he stormed into the clearing and looked around for me.

"I know you're here! This Looking Glass is the only one in the land that will take you to the place you want to go and the only way to get to it is through me!" the madman shouted, his eyes scanning the trees and bushes for signs of any movement.

"Damn you, Hatter," I muttered, thankful he doesn't have highly sensitive hearing like Jack and White who were currently picking their way through the trees on the other side of the clearing. The two had apparently been conspiring with each other since I had arrived and from the start planned a way out for me if things got out of hand regardless of whether or not I had brought the Mad Hatter back from over the edge of madness.

Catching sight of Jack quietly slipping into the field behind the hatmaker, he nodded his head to me before throwing himself on Hatter's back, getting rewarded with a scream of surprise from his companion, White racing into the clearing moments later to help the other rabbit-man hybrid.

_It's my life  
It's now or never  
'Cause I ain't gonna live forever  
I just wanna live while I'm alive_

"Alice! Run!" White screamed as the Hatter tossed him aside and looked up in my direction, smiling devilishly as I bolted into the clearing, heading straight for the Looking Glass.

"Oh, no, you don't!" the Hatter shouted, shoving the other boys aside and lunged for me only to get knocked back down by White.

I paused and looked to Jack helplessly as he ripped his shirt to tie up a cut on his arm but started for the Glass again when he barked, "This ain't a fashion show, angel cake! Get a move on while we can still hold him back!"

_(It's my life)  
My heart is like an open highway  
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"  
I just wanna live while I'm alive_

Reaching out to pass through the reflective surface, I screamed when I felt hands come down on me, making me lose balance and fall through the Looking Glass.

_(It's my life)  
And it's now or never  
I ain't gonna live forever  
I just wanna live while I'm alive_

_(It's my life)_  
_My heart is like an open highway_  
_Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"_  
_I just wanna live while I'm alive_  
_'Cause it's my life!_

Looking up and around at their now quiet surroundings, Jack sighed and fell to the ground with a thud, sighing, "We did it, White. We got Alice home."

"Yeah..." was the only thing the other boy would say.

A few minutes passed before Jack questioned, "Hey, where's Hatter?"

Sitting up in his seat on the grass, White said, "Please don't tell me he got through the Looking Glass with her!"

Watching the large mirror a few moments, the March Hare's face dropped and murmured, "He did."

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**Author's Note: So, what did you guys think of the next to last chapter of "_Nightmares in Wonderland_"? Let me know what you guys think of it! :D**


	13. Chapter 8: Home and a Promise of Return

**Author's Note: Welcome to the concluding chapter of "**_**Nightmares in Wonderland**_**", everyone! Thank you guys so much for sticking with this like you are and I promise you it will be rewarded with a sequel, so stay tuned! :D Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Leave me a review! Please?**

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Chapter Eight: Heading Home and a Promise of Return

The feeling of hitting hard ground stunned me as I picked myself off the asphalt and looked around in a daze, attempting to figure out where I was since traveling by Looking Glass is so random. Spying a street sign on the corner, it read Seventh Avenue and Main Street, giving me a sense of familiarity and froze, horror creeping up my spine at the sound of the Hatter's disoriented moaning. Turning in the direction I heard the moan to make sure I heard correctly and hoping I was wrong, there he was, sprawled out on the ground in a disorderly heap. I yelped in fear and ran, hoping I would get far enough ahead of him to get help.

That hope was short lived, however, as strong hands came down on me and forced me to turn around to look into the Hatter's unnaturally yellow eyes. Thrashing around in his grasp did no good in trying to escape him and I was reduced to the only thing I could do: I screamed. The sound was like it always was when the Mad Hatter riled me to bring forth the hidden power I had in my vocals: loud and ear splitting. My scream was loud enough I got the attention of everyone as they ran toward the sound to find out what was going on before the Hatter held a gloved hand over my mouth and guided me to an alleyway out of sight of the bystanders alerted to the scream for help.

"That's a cute trick you got there, Cricket, but I'm not done with you yet," he whispered menacingly, and I retaliated by biting his hand, pushing him away as hard as I could, and running for the entrance of the alley and into another man's arms. The man looked down at me in bewilderment as I clung to him as if my life depended on him. "Save me!" I cried, tears of utter fear and terror streaming freely down my face as I glanced over my shoulder at the Hatter as he slowly made his way to me.

"Freeze!"

The sudden shout startled us as cops ran for us and tackled Hatter to the ground. Momentarily stunned at the police officers' appearance, I looked down the way they had come to see there was in fact a police station nearby. _Thank you, God_, I thought thankfully, closing my eyes and leaned against the man in relief, knowing that my suffering at the Hatter's hands was finally over.

A tap on my shoulder made me flinch and I looked up to a female officer as she offered me a reassuring smile. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" the woman asked me, a tone I familiarize with the one my mother used to soothe me when I was a child. I shook my head and wiped at my eyes, reluctantly letting go of the man I had clung to as she took my hand and led me to the station a few blocks away with the other policemen that arrested Hatter in tow.

The whole night consisted of questions being asked and pictures being taken to record the damage done from my 'tattoos' to the bruises and gashes on my body from the last scuffle I got mixed in with Hatter before falling through the Looking Glass with Hatter hot on my heels. I answered all their questions but left out Wonderland and twisted certain facts around to sound more believable.

"Yeah, man, it's definitely her," one of the cops whispered, nodding his head at me.

"How can you be sure?" the second man whispered back.

"She disappeared with that whack job and she showed up tonight with him. It's the same girl," the first answered.

I tried to ignore the stares of the people in the station, but I found I couldn't, feeling as though they were all going to treat me as the Hatter did. Looking up as a young man took a seat beside me, I asked, "Where am I?"

"Hollywood, California," he replied, quirking an eyebrow at me in a silent question as to how I didn't know that.

"I've been running blind lately, y'know? That's kinda how it is when you're running from a psychopath that wants to be your friend one moment and beat you till you're unconscious or close to it the next," I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"Ms. Liddell?" a female officer asked, taking a seat next to me.

"That's me," I replied, nodding my head.

"My name is Officer Mary Ann Johnson. I was told to give you this," she said kindly, handing over a plane ticket. "This is for a flight headed for Georgia in the morning. We also took the liberty of putting you in a hotel nearby," she said and I thanked her for it before she left me be.

The whole night I was haunted by dreams of Hatter and all I was put through while I was in Wonderland. Waking up early that morning, I quickly ran through my morning routine before running out the door for the airport a few short blocks away.

Taking my seat onboard, I sighed in anxiety of being alone and clung to the keepsake box as if my life depended on it.

"Are you alright, miss? You seem tense," a woman's voice asked, getting me to jump and reply with, "No, I'm not alright. After being on the run from a crazed predator for so long, I'm just ready to go home and be with my family and not leave their side. Maybe I'll sleep for a whole month after all the hell I was put through."

"You poor child. I'm sorry for you," she said softly, and left me be for a while as the plane finally took off.

When the plane landed in my home state hours later, I found my parents in the masses of people and eagerly met them after being apart for so long and once we got home, I stayed true to my word of staying by their sides, past experiences in Wonderland with the Mad Hatter making me paranoid of having a repeat of the kidnapping.

(Hatter's POV)

How long has it been since they locked me up? Days? Weeks? Months? I wouldn't know. My concept of time has been muddled since my fight with Time.

I stared at my whitewashed with a bored expression as a psychiatrist came in to talk with me as is a ritualistic habit with this place. Instead of acknowledging her, I stared over her shoulder at the wall where I had a large canvas hung up to bring a bit of color to the room. The painting was more or less a mural of Wonderland, but I didn't say that out loud lest I want these people to think I'm crazier than they already think I am.

The mural of Wonderland is one of many paintings I had created since I was put in here because they thought I needed some sort of outlet for creativity. Leaning against the wall on the floor was a picture of a certain blonde woman who haunted my dreams as I'm certain I haunt hers and smirked in satisfaction of it since it's one of my best works.

"Hello? Pay attention to me, please, Brian," the woman said gently, bringing me back from my thoughts and scowled.

"..."

The woman sighed. "You're not going to talk to me today, are you?" she asked, getting out of her seat and taking her leave. I watched her go with envy but sighed when the orderly took his place outside the door to ensure I wouldn't get out. _They got smart_, I thought bitterly, thinking back to a few days before when I almost broke out until they caught me and dragged me back in.

"Well played, Cricket. This round goes to you," I murmured, addressing the painting. "But when I get out of this hellhole, I'm coming for you."

* * *

**Author's Note: Don't you just **_**love**_** cliffhangers? I don't. But I have to do this so you have something interesting to read about in the next part of this story "**_**Nightmares in Wonderland: Alice's Return**_**"! Stay tuned! You won't regret it! :D**


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